04/24/26 Afternoon CommStock Report – May Delivery Period Guides Grains Next Week

Next Thursday is first notice day for May grain futures. The start of the delivery period is a critical point for the market because of the decisions it forces on traders. Commercial merchandisers may want to take in the physical product from seeing futures as the lower priced alternative against replacement in the cash market. Sellers may see the opposite in deliverable values or they could hold bear spreads that make them want to issue their shorts. Futures traders not planning on making or taking delivery could close positions and exit the market entirely, or futures can be rolled or reversed.  Farmers are included in the mix with cash contracting deadlines that require delivery or rolling. The delivery period decisions will show their impacts on markets through changes in basis, spreads, volume, open interest, and trader positioning. Consider trader positioning specifically for predicting how price action could look going through next week’s opening of the May delivery window.   Three things stand out for trader positions in corn: managed money funds have been closing out of a bullish bet built up from the start of the year; index funds have not yet budged from holding a strong net-long; and farmers…