Metals

The futures section uses continuous contracts, which are contracts whose individual delivery months are connected to one another. To preserve relative price information, our continuous contracts, unlike other continuous contracts, are adjusted using a calculation factor. The rollover takes place shortly before contract expiration at about the point when volume moves to the new month. The focus here is on the majority of market participants trading in the delivery month where liquidity is available. Especially those market participants that trade far in advance, such as producers and processors, should have a closer look at the details of various individual delivery months.

Use the futures section charts only for the purpose of analysing futures. Seasonal trends in the futures market can vary from the underlying cash market. The reason is the arbitrage relation between the cash and the futures market. This varies from market to market. A wheat contract for instance can fall below cash market value if a good harvest is expected because there is no physical way to consume the un-harvested grain. But accordingly the cash price of January wheat for example can increase in price while July wheat decreases simultaneously. That’s why only futures market seasonality is applicable to the futures market.