As of yesterday the CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced it will expand electronic trading hours in its CBOT grain and oilseed futures and options beginning Monday, May 14, 2012.

Many saw this freight train creeping up on them in the rearview mirror as ICE, the Intercontinental Exchange, announced it would be opening its own grain contracts, which would trade just about around the clock. This move quickly prompted the CME to expand trading hours or it would suffer a major disadvantage of not being trade-able during certain hours, more specifically during USDA report releases 7:30 a.m. CST.

Electronic traders have been advocating for this change for quite some time, claiming their positions are at a major disadvantage when the grain markets shut down and other outside markets remain open, affecting the grains, but they were unable to do anything about it. Why shouldn't traders be able to have access to their positions throughout the day and into the night? Do crops stop growing, does the weather always remain at a constant, do economic events shut down between the hours of 1:15 p.m. and 6 p.m.?

Here at @TGAFarms we are constantly monitoring the U.S. dollar, European markets, Chinese markets around the clock, so why should we be locked into grain positions while the rest of the markets trade and move at will?