CME Adds New Cattle Contracts and Weekly Options

By Andi Anderson

The CME Group announced new listings for live cattle and feeder cattle futures and options on June 9, 2025, giving livestock producers and traders expanded flexibility in managing market risk.

The additions allow hedgers to secure prices further into the future, offering two extra months for live cattle and up to three additional months for feeder cattle contracts.

Typically, trading volume and open interest are strongest in nearby contracts and taper off in deferred months. However, new listings such as the April 2027 live cattle and September 2026 feeder cattle contracts are already showing comparable market activity to deferred contracts listed a year earlier.

For hedgers, these new contracts reduce the need to roll positions forward. Instead, they can directly hedge against more distant delivery months, potentially locking in more stable and profitable prices.

While futures remain the most direct tool, options contracts—also extended further out—provide similar advantages. However, longer-term options tend to carry higher premiums because of increased time value, affecting their cost-effectiveness compared to futures.

The CME has also added serial or odd-month options for live cattle, including October, November, and January options, which align more closely with marketing periods. For instance, the November option corresponds with the December futures contract, while the January option links to February futures. This finer scheduling gives producers more precise coverage during their marketing cycles.

In addition, on September 22, 2025, the CME Group began listing weekly options on live cattle futures. These short-term options, which expire on Monday mornings, have been designed to align with Cattle on Feed reports, typically released on the third or fourth Friday of the month. The timing ensures that the market can adjust positions before reports impact price movements.

These enhancements, mirroring successful practices from other commodities like corn and soybeans, provide cattle producers and traders with expanded tools to manage volatility, improve hedge precision, and better respond to shifting market conditions.

Photo Credit: gettyimages-baranozdemir