Change the release time of WASDE and Crop Production Report
Change the release time of WASDE and Crop Production Report
The Issue
I am reaching out to you in the hope of gaining your support for changing the time that the WASDE and the NASS Crop Production and Stocks reports are released. It is currently released in the middle of market hours at 11.00AM CST and I am proposing that it moves to 08.00AM CST, which is during a short break that the market is closed for 45 minutes. It is important to note that most other important USDA reports are released after the market has closed (see list below).
Crop Progress 3 PM CST
NASS Crush 2 PM CST
Hogs and Pigs 2 PM CST
Cattle on Feed 2 PM CST
Hatchability 2 PM CST
Crop Production/WASDE 11 AM CST
The reasoning behind this request is simply to give market participants a little bit of time to analyze the immense quantity of market-moving data that is released in these reports. This will help allow the vast majority of market participants (especially farmers, end users and commercial traders) to make informed decisions about how to manage their price risk : the fundamental reason for having a futures markets. Currently, it is apparent that the high frequency machines receive and act on this data often before we glimpse (let alone to analyze) the USDA reports. Whether intentional or not, there have been multiple incidents recently whereby the market has had an enormous move within seconds of the report and we have all been unable to access the data for several minutes afterwards. We have evidence of this and it is criminally unfair to all except a few machines that receive the data ahead of us and have the ability to react in fractions of a second. This has outraged members of the agricultural community and we have already received overwhelming widespread support to change the time of the report as it will level the playing field. I have also attached a paper by Dr Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign which articulately presents the same proposal of moving the release time of USDA crop reports outside of market hours.
It is time that we bring the industry together as a whole and we ask for your support to back this proposal. As the CME makes exorbitant fees from questionable arrangements with high frequency market makers and algorithmic trading systems, they are unlikely to back our cause. As a result, we have lined up a meeting with several powerful politicians that have been friends of the agricultural industry in the past. We intend to present them with a thorough case about the gross unfairness and dangers of releasing the USDA reports during market hours. Thus, any comments or anecdotes from your side would also be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for any support
Access Dr. Scott Irwin of University of IL paper on this topic below
The Issue
I am reaching out to you in the hope of gaining your support for changing the time that the WASDE and the NASS Crop Production and Stocks reports are released. It is currently released in the middle of market hours at 11.00AM CST and I am proposing that it moves to 08.00AM CST, which is during a short break that the market is closed for 45 minutes. It is important to note that most other important USDA reports are released after the market has closed (see list below).
Crop Progress 3 PM CST
NASS Crush 2 PM CST
Hogs and Pigs 2 PM CST
Cattle on Feed 2 PM CST
Hatchability 2 PM CST
Crop Production/WASDE 11 AM CST
The reasoning behind this request is simply to give market participants a little bit of time to analyze the immense quantity of market-moving data that is released in these reports. This will help allow the vast majority of market participants (especially farmers, end users and commercial traders) to make informed decisions about how to manage their price risk : the fundamental reason for having a futures markets. Currently, it is apparent that the high frequency machines receive and act on this data often before we glimpse (let alone to analyze) the USDA reports. Whether intentional or not, there have been multiple incidents recently whereby the market has had an enormous move within seconds of the report and we have all been unable to access the data for several minutes afterwards. We have evidence of this and it is criminally unfair to all except a few machines that receive the data ahead of us and have the ability to react in fractions of a second. This has outraged members of the agricultural community and we have already received overwhelming widespread support to change the time of the report as it will level the playing field. I have also attached a paper by Dr Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign which articulately presents the same proposal of moving the release time of USDA crop reports outside of market hours.
It is time that we bring the industry together as a whole and we ask for your support to back this proposal. As the CME makes exorbitant fees from questionable arrangements with high frequency market makers and algorithmic trading systems, they are unlikely to back our cause. As a result, we have lined up a meeting with several powerful politicians that have been friends of the agricultural industry in the past. We intend to present them with a thorough case about the gross unfairness and dangers of releasing the USDA reports during market hours. Thus, any comments or anecdotes from your side would also be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for any support
Access Dr. Scott Irwin of University of IL paper on this topic below
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Petition created on July 21, 2023