6 BULLETIN 1479, U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
following section the latter method—a comparison of the net position 
with price—has been used in an analysis of the trading of the eight 
large speculators. In a subsequent section their net trades are com- 
pared with the corresponding net price changes. 
NET POSITION COMPARED WITH PRICE 
THE PRICE AND OPEN COMMITMENTS IN THE 1926 MAY WHEAT FUTURE 
The position long or short of the eight largest speculators on the 
Chicago Board of Trade is presented in this section and compared 
with the price of the May future for corresponding days. In so doing, 
account is taken not only of the net trading each day but also the 
position long or short previously accumulated. 
Figure 2 shows, by days, the course of prices for the 1926 May 
wheat future. The figures for these daily price changes are contained 
in Table 2 of the appendix. Included also on the chart is the daily 
volume of trading and the daily open commitments. In some respects 
the course of prices for the 1926 future is similar to that of the 1925 
future. The price increased both years during the fall and early 
winter to a high for the “‘life’”’ of the future; for both years, the price 
declined during February and March (with some important inter- 
ruptions) to a low for the latter half of the future; and in both years 
the price rallied somewhat during April and May. The course of 
prices for the 1925 May wheat future is shown in Figure 3. 
Although there is a marked similarity between the price move- 
ments during the two years, the price ‘‘swings’’ were not so large in 
the 1926 May as in the 1925 May future. The low for the 1925 
future was $1.195¢ on July 8, whereas the low for the 1926 future 
was.$1.3454 on October 3. The high for the 1925 future was reached 
on January 28 at $2.05%, whereas the high of the 1926 May future 
occurred on December 29 at $1.8514. Following the high, the 1925 
future declined to a second low on April 3 of $1.3614, whereas the 1926 
future reached its second low on March 23 at $1.534%. From these 
low points each future turned upward, the 1925 May future closing 
at $1.653% to $1.66, whereas the 1926 May future closed at $1.64 to 
$1.65. Theaverage closing price for the life of the 1925 May future 
was $1.59, whereas that of the 1926 May future was $1.60%, a differ- 
ence of only 1144 cents. On the other hand the 1925 May showed a 
price range of 8614 cents and the 1926 May of 503 cents. 
he open commitments for the 1926 future reached their maximum 
on December 31 at 94,694,000 bushels, practically coincident with 
the peak in the May future price as shown in Figure 2. Thereafter 
the total open commitments declined rapidly, following in general 
the decline in price. In contrast, the maximum of the open commit- 
ments in the 1925 May future was on December 9, almost two months 
prior to the peak in price. On this date the total of the open commit- 
ments in May wheat was 107,472,000 bushels. Approximately this 
volume was maintained until January 12 and thereafter declined 
during January while the price continued upward. 
The difference between these two years in the relation of open 
commitments to price is explained largely by the absence of a wide 
“public interest’? in wheat futures during the winter of 1925-26. 
In the winter of 1924-25, large professional speculators as a group 
began liquidating their long holdings on January 12 and continued 
