The four major grains:
Wheat, corn, soybeans, and oats, the
price is quoted in dollars and cents for both futures and
options. For example, a price quote of 4.09 1/2 is actually
4 dollars 9 and 1/2 cents per bushel. These grains all move
in 1/4 cent increments, which is $12.50 of real money.
Profit or loss of 1 cent = $50.00
Soybean meal:
The contract is quoted in dollars
(and cents) per ton (100 ton contract). When you see a price
of 180.50, it means one hundred eighty dollars and fifty
cents per ton. When you see a change of -.30 it means 30
cents per ton, though often referred to as 30 points. In
this case you'd be up or down $30 on the day. The mini
contract is exactly half of the regular bean meal contract
and therefore attractive to trade because it is not too
diluted.
Bean Oil:
The 60,000 pound contract is quoted
in cents per 100 pounds. When you see 2650 it is
actually twenty-six and a half cents per 100 pounds
of bean oil. When you see a change of +.09, it actually
means .09 cents per 100 pounds, but is commonly stated as nine
points. One point equals six dollars, so a nine point move
would mean a difference of $54 dollars. Options are quoted
in points.
Meats:
The contracts are quoted in cents
per pound. There are one hundred points to a cent, each
point being worth $4 except in Feeder Cattle, where each
point is worth $5. So, a full cent move is worth $400,
unless it's feeder cattle which would be $500. If you see a
price of 57.25 this is in fact fifty-seven cents and
twenty-five one hundredths of a cent (25/100 of one cent).
The decimal point is not meant to be
a divider between dollars and cents. This guideline also
works for options. The premium may be 3.70, the easy way to
figure out the dollar value is to drop the decimal and
multiply by the point value, so 370 on a cattle option would
be 370 times $4 per point = $1480.
Foods or "Softs":
Coffee, Orange Juice, and Sugar are
all quoted in cents per pound. This means you can use the
same methods you used to figure out the meats. Cocoa is a
little different, it is quoted in even dollar amounts per
ton. When you see a price of 1612, it actually means one
thousand six-hundred twelve dollars per ton. There are ten
tons in a contract, so if you see a change of +21 per ton,
multiply by ten, or add 0 to get a real dollar value change
of $210.00. Options are the same, just add a 0 to the
premium price to give you the cost of the option.
Metals:
Gold, Platinum, and Palladium are
just as they appear with regards to how dollars and cents
usually appear. The numbers to the left of the decimal point
are dollars, and the numbers to right of decimal point point
are cents. Here, points are the same as cents. If you hear
that palladium dropped 85 cents (the 100 oz palladium
contract yields $1 per point for an actual cash gain or loss
of $85.00. per contract)
Silver Is more like the grains such
as corn or wheat. One penny move equals a cash value of
$50.00. In the paper, you often see it quoted as 599.5, with
a change of -5.5. This actually means that an ounce of
silver is worth $5.99 1/2 dollars, down 5 1/2 cents. Silver
can settle on one tenth of a cent but it only trades every
half cent. Silver options, however, do trade in one tenth
increments, so you can be very precise in buying a silver
option.
Copper Is quoted in cents per pound,
instead of cents per ounce. It is a 25,000 pound contract,
so if each pound increased in value by one penny, you'd have
25000 pennies, which is equal to $250 dollars. One point is
one one hundredth of that, or $2.50. So if copper goes up 30
points, you figure by multiplying 30 times $2.50 = $75.00.
Options are quoted in points, so a 215 point option is worth
215 times $2.50 which equals $537.5.
Energies:
Crude oil is quoted in dollars per
barrel (bbl). A price of 14.50 is fourteen dollars and fifty
cents per barrel. Each contract has 1000 barrels, so a price
movement from 14.50 to 14.51 is worth ten bucks per
contract. Heating Oil and Unleaded Gas are quoted in
dollars and cents per gallon, just like at the gas pump. The contract
size is 42,000 gallons, so each point is worth $4.20. A move
from 5200 to 5205 is worth 5 times $4.20, or $21 dollars.
Options are quoted in points, so an
option going for 85 points is worth 85 times $4.20, or $357
dollars. Natural Gas is quoted in BTU's, or British
Thermal Units, which is a measurement of heat. Each notch
this contract moves is worth $10, which is ten points.
Woods and Fibers:
Cotton is quoted in cents per pound, with 50,000 pounds in a
contract. It's just like copper, except twice as big, so
each point is worth $5.00. Lumber traded in 110,000 board
feet, each point is worth eighty cents, the minimum
fluctuation is 10 points, or $8.00 ( I try to stay a little
confused about lumber so I won't be tempted to trade it,
it's illiquid and volatile).
Currencies:
The
exchange quotes dollar based currency futures in "American
Terms" which is the dollar price of of each foreign
currency. For example $.6500 per one Swiss Franc. Another
way to think about is, how much of our currency does it take
to buy one of theirs, sixty five cents buys one Swiss Franc.
To figure profit or loss, drop the
decimal point and multiply the point change by the point
value in dollars. For example $.6500 to .6465 is 35 points
times $12.5 per point which equals $437.50.