Nonfarm investors might benefit from diversifying their portfolios by investing in the agricultural sector. Such diversifying investments could include investments in agricultural stocks or long-only futures positions through index funds. The papers in this session investigate the...

Most new futures contracts fail. This study estimates the effects of several factors on the success or failure of agricultural futures contracts. Commodities with futures markets and without futures markets are included. Characteristics for which no data exist, such as homogeneity, vertical...

This paper investigates the dynamics of sequential decision-making in agricultural futures andoptions markets using a quantile regression framework. Analysis of trading records of 12 traderssuggests that there is great heterogeneity in individual trading behavior. Traders responddifferently to...

The paper examines empirical returns from holding thirty- and ninety-day call and put positions,and the forecasting performance of implied volatility in the live and feeder cattle optionsmarkets. In both markets, implied volatility is an upwardly biased and inefficient predictor ofrealized...

Futures prices when combined with a basis forecast provide a reliable way to forecast cashprices. The most popular method of forecasting basis is historical moving averages. Given therecent failure of longer moving averages proposed by previous studies, this research reassessespast...

This paper investigates whether the accuracy of outlook hog price forecasts can be improvedusing composite forecasts in an out-of-sample context. Price forecasts from four wellrecognizedoutlook programs are combined with futures-based forecasts, ARIMA, andunrestricted Vector Autoregressive (VAR)...

This study compares liquidity costs and other characteristics of electronic and open outcry hard red winter wheat futures contracts traded on the Kansas City Board of Trade. Liquidity costs are considerably lower in the electronic market than in the open outcry market. A new approach is used to...

This paper investigates the dynamics of sequential decision-making in agricultural futures and options markets using a quantile regression framework. Analysis of trading records of 12 traders suggests that there is great heterogeneity in individual trading behavior. Traders respond differently...

Futures prices when combined with a basis forecast provide a reliable way to forecast cash prices. The most popular method of forecasting basis is historical moving averages. Given the recent failure of longer moving averages proposed by previous studies, this research reassesses past...