SPECULATIVE TRANSACTIONS IN 1926 MAY WHEAT FUTURE 5 
December 4 and 5—the amount held by this trader exceeded 14 
per cent and on several other days it amounted to more than12 per 
cent of the total open commitments. The maximum position this 
trader attained was on December 7, when he had accumulated a 
long line of 11,125,000 bushels of May wheat, which amounted to 13.8 
per cent of the total commitments in May wheat on that date. 
The position of trader No. 2 is characterized not so much by a large 
position maintained over a considerable period of time as by the pro- 
nounced extremes both long and short reached on individual days. 
Thus at the close of trading on December 26, this trader was long 
8,900,000 bushels, this being 9.8 per cent of the total open commit- 
ments in May wheat. On January 21, he was short 9,910,000 bushels 
or 10.9 per cent of the total open commitments. On February 4, 
he was again long 6,100,000 bushels or 7.3 per cent of the total, fol- 
lowed by a short position on Febuary 11 of 5,900,000 bushels or 7.5 
per cent of the total. On March 19 he was again long 8,400,000 
bushels or 13.2 per cent of the total and on April 9 he was short 
7,700,000 bushels or 13.7 per cent of the total open commitments. 
When the transactions of traders No. 1 and No. 2 are combined they 
reach peaks in their net position of 17,225,000 bushels long on Decem- 
ber 26, of 16,450,000 bushels long on January 6, and of 15,525,000 
bushels long on February 5. These positions represent 18.8, 18.4, 
and 18.8 per cent, respectively, of the total open commitments. 
The importance of these traders may also be measured by their net 
purchases or sales on individual days. Thus trader No. 1 bought 
2,300,000 bushels of May wheat on December 1, solid 2,000,000 bushels 
on December 12, and on March 1, he sold 6,000,000 bushels. On 
March 1, another of the eignt traders sold 4,500,000 bushels, the com- 
bined sales of these two traders amounting to 11.1 per cent of the 
total sales for that day in May wheat. ‘Trader No. 2 bought or sold 
over 2,000,000 bushels on 19 different days during the life of the 1926 
May wheat future. On October 9, he bought 4,500,600 bushels which 
amounted to 16.5 per cent of the total purchases of May wheat that 
day; on January 28, he bought 7,135,000 bushels amounting to 12.1 
per cent of the total; on February 8, he sold 6,100,000 bushels and 
on March 20, 6,000,000 bushels which amounts were equivalent to 
8.3 per cent and 10.6 per cent, respectively, of the total sales on each 
of those two days. Between January 7 and January 11, inclusive, 
ns aa sold amounts of the May future aggregating net 13,700,000 
ushels. 
The facts here presented are intended to show only the importance 
of these eight large speculators in the Chicago wheat futures market. 
Their position seems of sufficient size to warrant further analysis 
regarding their trading operations and the influence of these upon 
wheat prices. 
METHOD OF ANALYSIS 
The question of what influence the trading operations of speculators 
have upon price can be approached from two angles. (1) A compari- 
son of the net purchases or sales on individual days as they relate to 
accompanying price changes, or (2) a comparison of the course of the 
net position of the traders as it relates to price movements. The 
first method considers each day’s trading as a separate unit. The 
second method takes into account not only the changes occurring each 
day but also the position long or short already accumulated. In the 
