Traders definitely can make the market more volatile. And they can alter prices for considerable lengths of times. But they do not consume the product. So for every move they make the market go down, they eventually have to cover and make the market go back up. And vice-versa. That seems to make on farm storage all the more important along with being in a financial situation to be able to afford to hold the grain off the market when appropriate, and not listening to buyers scare tactics to sell ahead "because the sky is falling". Specks can shove the market around, but in the end, end users need grain to process and supply and demand will prevail. It just depends on who is holding the inventory when the price reverts of who makes the money. It is our jobs as producers and marketers not to get shook out of our position at the wrong time. It is buyers and speculators jobs to do exactly that, shake us out of our ownership at exactly the wrong time. That is how they make a living. Nothing sinister about it. Just the way a free market works. Edit: And in the same token, sometimes it may make sense to sell ahead because the market is offering more BECAUSE of the speculators temporarily driving prices up. John
Edited by John Burns 4/23/2014 11:02
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