Commodity Challenge Help Center for Farm Financial Management

Transcription

1 Commodity Challenge Help

2

3 Commodity Challenge Help by the Center for Farm Financial Management All rights reserved. No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems - without the written permission of the publisher. Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners. The publisher and the author make no claim to these trademarks. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it. In no event shall the publisher and the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document. Printed: March 2013 in St. Paul, MN.

4

5 Contents 5 Table of Contents Foreword 7 Part I Playing Commodity Challenge 10 1 Join a Game Starting a Game Quick Start game Custom game My Games Active Games Past Games Games I Manage LEADERBOARD LEADERBOARD... Detail 12 5 I want to make... a transaction 12 Cash Commodity Quantity Price At the Market Set Price Forward Commodity Delivery Date Quantity Price At the Market Set Price Futures Commodity Action to Take Select Contract Number of Contracts Price At the Market Set Price Options Commodity Call/Put Action to Take Select Contract Strike Price Number of Contracts Premium At the Market Set Premium Reports (How... am I doing?) 16 Summary

6 6 Commodity Challenge Help Positions About Position... Limits 17 Futures vs. Options... Positions 19 Open Orders Transactions Brokerage Part II Toolbox 22 1 Admin Settings Manage Games Manage Users Profile Settings Add/Edit Game Game Title Game Description Game Leader Game Password Game Start Date/Time Game Registration... Close Date/Time 23 Game End Date/Time Enabled Transactions Commission Rate Your Commodities Games Index 0

7

8

9 Playing Commodity Challenge

10 10 Commodity Challenge Help 1 Playing Commodity Challenge Commodity Challenge is an on-line trading game, featuring real-time quotes from several grain futures markets and numerous local cash markets located throughout the country. It differs from other trading simulations by emphasizing the use of futures and options for risk management purposes (hedging), and not for speculation. Every player in Commodity Challenge is asked to play the role of a grain producer. Each player produces the same number of bushels - for example, 25,000 bushels of wheat. The price of wheat can vary greatly - as high as $20 and as low as $4 per bushel since 2005 and you have to make some difficult choices. You may choose to sell your wheat into the local market at the current price, or you may choose to store the grain for sale later in the year. Alternatively, you may choose to sell futures contracts to establish a price, or use option contracts to establish a minimum price. You have many choices, and Commodity Challenge gives you the chance to explore your alternatives, learn about the markets and have some fun. Commodity Challenge is also an opportunity to compete with your peers as you manage the risk and opportunity in marketing your crop. What price will you get for your production? 1.1 Join a Game From your Home page, click on "FIND A GAME" in the upper right-hand corner. The Join a Game section displays a list of games. Most Commodity Challenge games are private - you must know a password to play these games. If you are new to Commodity Challenge and would like to explore the features, look for an open game to join (i.e., a game that is not password protected). There will always be a small selection of open games available to join. 1.2 Starting a Game Starting a Commodity Challenge game for your group is easy and free. You can request a Quick Start game, or a Custom game Quick Start game With a Quick Start game, many games specs are defined for you. For example, grains traded, quantities and harvest dates will be selected based on your location. Registration for the game will be open for several weeks after the start date. Brokerage fees and storage costs are set at $50/contract and 5 cents/bu. per month, respectively. Finally, all Quick Start games are password protected. Final game specifications will be shared by with the Game Leader. Very little information is needed to get you started! 1. Group name/game title: (e.g., Farm Marketing Group, Central High School FFA, etc.) 2. Location: (e.g., Cresco IA, Mankato MN, etc.) 3. Game Leader: name, and phone number 4. Start date: 5. End date: All positions are marked-to-market and winners declared based on the closing market prices on this day. Send this information via to Edward Usset at usset001@umn.edu. Questions? Please call

11 Playing Commodity Challenge Custom game To customize a game for your group, define the following specifications. 1. Group name/game title: (e.g., West Tech Ag Marketing 101, Ohio Women in Ag, etc.) 2. Location: (e.g., Norfolk, NE, Eureka IL, etc.) 3. Game Leader: name, and phone number 4. Game description: This is your chance to describe your players and what commodities will be traded. Are there prizes? Example: This game is designed for producers near Valley City, ND. Players trade HRS wheat and soybeans on the cash, futures, and options markets. Cash sales cannot be made until harvest (August 20 for wheat, September 25 for soybeans). Until harvest, you can use forward contracts, futures or options to price grain. Good luck! 5. Game password: We recommend password protection. 6. Start date: 7. Registration close date: How much time will you give players to join your game? A week or two should be plenty of time for most people. 8. Harvest date: The harvest date simulates the date your commodities will be harvested and available to be sold on the cash market. Pricing prior to this date will be limited to forward contracts (if available), or futures and options contracts. By setting a harvest date after the end date for the game, you have established a new crop pricing game. 9. End date: All positions are marked-to-market and winners declared based on the closing market prices on this day. 10.List up to four commodities, with quantities in bushels: At this point, Commodity Challenge is limited to grains. Corn, soybeans, SRW wheat, HRW wheat, and HRS wheat have futures and options markets available for price risk management. Barley, durum wheat and soft white wheat are also available with cash market quotes. 11.Preferred cash market location for each commodity: 12.Transactions allowed: Cash sales are always allowed. You can choose whether or not to allow the use of futures contracts or options contracts. 13.Forward contracts: You can choose to establish forward contracts for delivery in two different time periods for each commodity (e.g. October and January delivery for corn, September and December delivery for soybeans). 14.Commission costs: Choose a figure in $/contract ($50 to $60 per contract per round-turn is typical) 15.Storage costs: Choose a figure in cents/bu. per month (4 to 5 cents/bu. per month are common). Send this information via to Edward Usset at usset001@umn.edu. Questions? Please call My Games This is a rundown of your active games, past games and games you manage (for administrators only) Active Games These are games you have joined and are competing in. Simply click on the PLAY button on the right hand side to resume your activities in the game. The PLAY button will take you to the game dashboard. On the left side of the dashboard, you will find the leader board for the game, and cash and futures market quotes that are relevant to your game. Do you want to make a transaction? On the right side of the dashboard are buttons titled CASH, FORWARD, FUTURES and OPTIONS - your opportunity to take action in these markets. Below these buttons, you can explore your status in the current game. Five important tabs give you an in-depth rundown on your current results and activities: Summary, Positions, Open Orders, Transactions and Brokerage.

12 12 Commodity Challenge Help Past Games These are games you competed in that have now ended Games I Manage This section is available only to Game Administrators. 1.4 LEADERBOARD The Leader Board ranks all players from highest to lowest by total net revenues for all commodities traded in the game. The net revenue figures are updated each day at 3:00 pm Central time, when all unsold cash grain and open futures and options positions are marked-to-market. Clicking on the "More" button at the bottom of the Leader Board brings you to the Leader Board Detail LEADERBOARD Detail The Leader Board Details shows how players are doing by commodity. Again, all figures are updated each day at 3:00 pm Central time, when open positions and unsold grain are marked-tomarket. 1.5 I want to make a transaction Cash So you are ready to take action. Commodity Challenge allows for four different types of pricing actions; a simple cash sale, a forward contract, a futures transaction and an options transaction. Are you ready to make a sale of cash grain? From your game dashboard, select CASH, and the opportunity to make a cash sale appears Commodity Quantity Price Select the Commodity you want to sell. These are limited to the commodities traded in the game. Write in the quantity (bushels for grains) and do not use commas. For example, if you want to sell 10,000 bushels of corn, type in "10000", and not 10,000. In terms of your sale price, you have two choices; At the Market or Set Price. At the Market sales are made at the latest market price to trade, specifically the latest futures trade, adjusted for the local basis in your cash market. For grains, At the Market prices are typically made within a quarter cent (higher or lower) of the latest cash quote for your market. However, in particularly volatile markets (sometimes called a fast market), it is possible to receive a price that is quite different from the most recent quote. The Set Price alternative allows you to establish the price you want for a cash grain sale. For example, the current cash soybean quote is $12.23/bu. Your marketing plan calls for a sale at 12.25/ bu. You can use the Set Price feature to place an order to sell cash grain for $12.25/bu. For your order to be filled, the cash price must trade 2 cents higher. Your risk, of course, is that this may not happen. Set Price orders remain open until they are filled or canceled.

13 Playing Commodity Challenge At the Market At the Market sales are made at the latest market price to trade, specifically the latest futures trade, adjusted for the local basis in your cash market. For grains, At the Market prices are typically made within a quarter cent (higher or lower) of the latest cash quote for your market. However, in particularly volatile markets (sometimes called a fast market), it is possible to receive a price that is quite different from the most recent quote Set Price Enter a positive decimal number for the Set Price Forward Are you ready to make a forward sale of cash grain? From your game dashboard, select FORWARD, and the opportunity to make a forward contract appears. Investopedia defines a forward contract as "A cash market transaction in which delivery of the commodity is deferred until after the contract has been made. Although the delivery is made in the future, the price is determined on the initial trade date." This is not a futures contract Commodity Select the Commodity you want to sell. These are limited to the commodities traded in the game Delivery Date Delivery Date. Commodity Challenge allows for up to two different forward delivery dates for each commodity Quantity Price Quantity should be written without commas. For example, if you want to sell 5,000 bushels of HRS wheat, type in 5000, and not 5,000. In terms of your sale price, you have two choices; At the Market or Set Price. At the Market sales are made at the latest market price to trade, specifically the latest futures trade, adjusted for the local basis for the forward market in question. For grains, At the Market prices sales are typically made within a quarter cent (higher or lower) of the latest forward quote for your market. However, in particularly volatile markets (sometimes called a fast market), it is possible to receive a price that is quite different from the most recent quote. The Set Price alternative allows you to establish the price you want for a forward grain sale. For example, assume it is January and the current forward quote for HRW wheat is $6.94/bu. for harvest delivery (late June). Your marketing plan calls for a sale at $7.00/bu. You can use the Set Price feature to place an order for a forward contract at $7.00/bu. For your order to be filled, the forward price must trade 6 cents higher. Your risk, of course, is that this may not happen. Set Price orders remain open (see "open orders") until they are filled or canceled At the Market At the Market sales are made at the latest market price to trade, specifically the latest futures trade, adjusted for the local basis for the forward market in question. For grains, At the Market prices sales are typically made within a quarter cent (higher or lower) of the latest forward quote for your market. However, in particularly volatile markets (sometimes called a fast market), it is possible to receive a price that is quite different from the most recent quote.

14 14 Commodity Challenge Help Set Price Enter a positive decimal number for the Set Price Futures Rather than sell cash grain (with a cash sale today or forward contract - a cash sale for later delivery later) you can choose to sell a futures contract. From your game dashboard, select FUTURES, and the opportunity to make a futures trade appears. Using futures contracts instead of making a cash sale is hedging, or the use of a futures contract as a temporary substitute for a later transaction in the cash market Commodity Select the Commodity you want to trade in the futures market. These are limited to the commodities traded in the game Action to Take If you have no existing futures position, your choices are limited to Buy or Sell. If you have an existing futures position, you will also be offered the opportunity to Offset your existing position Select Contract While there is no hard and fast rule on the contract delivery month to select, hedgers typically select the contract that most closely aligns with final grain delivery. For example, if you use futures to price grain that you expect to deliver in early June, you would hedge in the July contract Number of Contracts Price Grain futures contracts are a standardized 5,000 bushels. If you want to price 25,000 bushels of corn, type in "5" for 5 contracts. In terms of a futures price, you have two choices; At the Market or Set Price. At the Market sales are made at the latest futures market price to trade. For grains, At the Market prices are typically made within a quarter cent (higher or lower) of the latest futures quote for your market. However, in particularly volatile markets (sometimes called a fast market), it is possible to receive a price that is quite different from the most recent quote. The Set Price alternative allows you to establish the price you want for a futures price. Consider, for example, if you wanted to sell May soybean futures to establish a price for soybeans to be delivered in April. May'XX soybeans are currently quoted at $13.21//bu. You would like to make a sale with May'XX soybeans at $13.35/bu. or higher. You can use the Set Price feature to place an order to sell May futures at $13.35/bu. For your order to be filled, the futures price must trade 14 cents higher. Your risk, of course, is that this may not happen. Set Price orders remain open (see "open orders") until they are filled or canceled At the Market At the Market sales are made at the latest futures market price to trade. For grains, At the Market prices are typically made within a quarter cent (higher or lower) of the latest futures quote for your market. However, in particularly volatile markets (sometimes called a fast market), it is possible to receive a price that is quite different from the most recent quote.

15 Playing Commodity Challenge Set Price Enter a positive decimal number for the Set Price Options Option contracts offer you one more pricing alternative. Instead of making a cash sale today or a cash sale for later delivery later (aka a forward contract) or selling futures contracts, you could buy put options or sell call options. From your game dashboard, select OPTIONS, and the opportunity to make an options trade appears. (Warning! The sale of call options is not a typical hedge, and you should explore the risks before making this type of transaction) Commodity Call/Put Select the Commodity you want to trade in the options market. These are limited to the commodities traded in the game. Call options are the right to buy futures. Put options are the right to sell futures Action to Take If you have no existing options position, your choices are limited to Buy or Sell. If you have an existing options position, you will also be offered the opportunity to Offset your existing position Select Contract While there is no hard and fast rule on the contract delivery month to select, hedgers typically select the contract that most closely aligns with final grain delivery Strike Price While there is no hard and fast rule on the strike price to select, hedgers often select a strike price that is one or two strikes out-of-the-money Number of Contracts Grain futures contracts are a standardized 5,000 bushels. If you want to price 25,000 bushels of corn, type in "5" for 5 contracts Premium Strike prices for options are established by the exchanges. The premium is the price paid for the right to buy (calls) or sell (puts) options at particular strike prices. At the Market trades are made at the premium of the latest options trade. Be forewarned! Unlike futures markets, options markets (particularly in the HRW and HRS wheat markets) are not heavily traded and "At the Market" premiums could take hours to fill and be several cents more or less than the latest options quote. Even in the more heavily traded corn and soybean markets, options that are deep in-the-money or out-of-the-money may trade infrequently. Again, an "At the Market" order fill could take hours (or days) to fill and be several cents more or less than the latest options quote. The Set Premium alternative allows you to establish the premium you want for an option. Consider, for example, if you wanted to buy a March 700 HRW wheat put (the right to sell May HRW futures at $7/bu.) The May 700 put is currently quoted at a premium of 28 cents/bu. You can use the Set Premium feature to place an order to buy the put for 26 cents/bu. For your order to be filled, the option premium must trade 2 cents lower. Your risk, of course, is that this may not happen. Set Premium orders remain open (see "open orders") until they are filled or canceled.

16 16 Commodity Challenge Help At the Market At the Market trades are made at the premium of the latest options trade. Be forewarned! Unlike futures markets, options markets (particularly in the HRW and HRS wheat markets) are not heavily traded and "At the Market" premiums could take hours to fill and be several cents more or less than the latest options quote. Even in the more heavily traded corn and soybean markets, options that are deep in-the-money or out-of-the-money may trade infrequently. Again, an "At the Market" order fill could take hours (or days) to fill and be several cents more or less than the latest options quote Set Premium Enter a positive decimal number for the Set Premium. 1.6 Reports (How am I doing?) In this section, you can explore your status in the current game. Five important tabs give you an indepth rundown on your current results and activities: Summary, Positions, Open Orders, Transactions and Brokerage Summary This page offers a mark-to-market summary of all sources of revenue by commodity. Production is the amount of grain you have to sell in the game. In an old crop game, this is grain in storage (and storage fees are accumulating!). For a new crop game, this is your anticipated harvest. Value of cash sales is the bushels sold in the cash market multiplied by the price per bushel and net of storage costs (if any). Value of unsold is the bushels remaining to be sold multiplied by the price per bushel - today s cash price for grain held in storage, or the new crop price for grain at harvest. Total cash value adds the value of cash sales to the value of unsold bushels. Futures profits is the total of gains and losses from activities in the futures markets, net of brokerage costs. Options profits is the total of gains and losses from activities in the options markets, net of brokerage costs. Net value is the total cash value adjusted for all futures and options profits (or losses). Net unit price simply takes your net value and divides it by production Positions The Positions report attempts to answer an important risk management question: What is my exposure to the market? If, for example, you start a game with 100,000 bushels of corn in storage, you have 100,000 bushels fully exposed to price fluctuations in the markets - a price decline of 25 cents/bushel will cost you $25,000 in lost revenues. For grain games, all units are in bushels. Production is the amount of grain you have to sell in the game. In an old crop game, this is grain in storage (and storage fees are accumulating!). For a new crop game, this is your anticipated harvest.

17 Playing Commodity Challenge 17 Cash sales are the total quantity sold in the cash market. Forward contracts are the total quantity sold with forward contracts. Quantity unsold is your production less cash sales and forward contracts. Futures sold are the total quantity sold in the futures market. Using futures contracts to price grain is called hedging, or the use of futures as a temporary substitute for an eventual sale in the cash market. Futures bought are the total quantity bought in the futures market. Other than the need to offset earlier futures sales, grain producers are typically not buyers of futures contracts. However, selling cash grain and buying futures (a re-ownership strategy sometimes called "paper farming") can make sense when cash prices are very high relative to the futures prices (i.e., the basis is strong). Producers use this strategy to shift ownership from the cash market to the futures market. Put options sold are the total quantity of puts sold in the options market. Grain producers are generally not sellers of put options. Put options bought are the total quantity of puts bought in the options market. Buying put options to price grain is an alternative to selling futures contracts. Buying put options allows a producer to establish a minimum price for grain, while maintaining the opportunity to benefit from rising prices. Call options sold are the total quantity of calls sold in the options market. Selling call options to price grain (aka selling covered calls) is an alternative to selling futures contracts or buying put options. Selling calls will establishes the possibility of a maximum price, with a limited hedge against lower prices. Caution! This is not a typical hedge. Call options bought are the total quantity of calls bought in the options market. Grain producers are typically not buyers of call options. However, selling cash grain and buying call options (a reownership strategy sometimes called "paper farming") can make sense when cash prices are very high relative to the futures prices (i.e., the basis is strong). Producers use this strategy to shift ownership from the cash market to the options market. Net Ownership is the "Quantity unsold", less futures sold, put options bot and call options sold. This is your net exposure to market price changes About Position Limits Position limits, tied to production, are a very important part of Commodity Challenge. It distinguished the game other trading simulations because it emphasizes the use of futures and options for risk management purposes. Other trading simulations have no ties to the underlying cash market and focus on speculation with futures and options trading trying to buy low and sell high for profit. Grain producers also want to make a profit. Every time a crop is planted, they are, in effect, buyers (aka owners) of grain. The price paid depends on their production costs. For grain producers, futures and options are pricing tools used to or lock in a profit on their production. However, buying and selling of futures and options in quantities unrelated to production is speculation. Commodity Challenges seeks to limit trading to risk management (aka hedging), and not speculation. Commodity Challenge limits buying and selling transactions to no more than two times production. Buying transactions include grain ownership, the purchase of futures contracts, the purchase of call options and the sale of put options. Selling transactions include cash and forward sales, the sale of futures contracts, the sale of call options and the purchase of put options. Sales in the cash market (including forward contracts) are limited to production, while physical grain purchases are not allowed. Buying and selling includes completed and pending transactions (open, or unfilled,

18 18 Commodity Challenge Help orders). As a risk management exercise, Commodity Challenge is not pure because it allows transactions up to twice your production level. In a pure risk management exercise, you would never own or sell more than your production. Consider, for example, a game where you produced 100,000 bushels of corn. If the game was a pure risk management exercise, Commodity Challenge would not allow you to place an order to sell more than 100,000 bushels of corn bushels. Selling more than your production would be shorting the market and a speculative bet on lower prices. On the other side of a pure risk management exercise, you would never be able to place an order to buy more than 100,000 bushels. This sort of "Texas hedge" is a speculative bet on higher prices. Within limits, Commodity Challenge allows some of these transactions - risk management in its purest form is a nice idea but fails to recognize the complicated nature of placing and unwinding hedges. Wiggle room is needed, and Commodity Challenge allows for it by opening game limits on trading activities (buying or selling) to twice the level of production. In this example, where you have 100,000 bushels of corn in storage, Commodity Challenge would allow you to buy or sell 200,000 bushels (100,000 * 2). Cash sales of corn would, of course, still be limited to production. But transactions with futures or options contracts can go beyond production. Let s look at two simple but realistic examples that illustrate the need for position limits beyond the level of production. The first example involves a simple short hedge, or the sale of futures contracts to price grain held in storage. The second example is paper farming, a strategy of selling cash grain and re-owning the sale with the purchase of call options. Example #1: Unwinding a short hedge Last month, you sold 100,000 bu. in the futures market to price grain held in storage (aka a short hedge). Now you want to unwind the hedge sell cash grain and buy back the futures position. The order to sell 100,000 bu. cash grain is placed at the market and filled immediately. Your order to buy back futures is placed with a set price and NOT filled. Until the order to buy futures contracts is filled, your net position is 100,000 bushels short (100,000 bushels of cash grain sold, and another 100,000 bushels sold in the futures market). Example #2: Paper farming with call options You hold 100,000 bushels in storage. Cash prices are strong and the futures market is inverted. It makes sense to shift your ownership from the cash market to the futures market, so you decide to sell grain held in storage and re-own it with calls options. Your order to buy call options is filled immediately, but your order to sell cash grain at a set price is pending. Until the order to sell cash grain is filled, your net position is 200,000 bushels long (100,000 bushels of cash grain held in storage, and another 100,000 bushels of call options purchased). In each case, the hedger has stepped into a gray area between pure hedging and speculation. A good risk manager will address the problem quickly. In the first example, there may be a need to change the order to buy futures from a limited order to a market order. The same is true of the second example the order to sell grain is not happening. Should the selling price be lowered to complete the transaction? While positions up to two times production are allowed, there will be daily notices sent to players and game leaders whenever a buy or sell position is greater than production. For a player who is oversold, the notice will read The total of your actual and pending orders to sell grain exceeds production by XXXX bushels. You need to offset an existing sell position (e.g., futures sales, put option purchases or call option sales) or cancel pending orders to sell. For a player who is overbought - owns more than the amount produced - the notice will read The total of your actual and pending orders for grain ownership exceeds production by XXXX

19 Playing Commodity Challenge 19 bushels. You need to offset an existing purchase position (e.g., futures purchases, put option sales or call option purchases) or cancel pending orders to buy. The game will not accept buy or sell orders of any kind or quantity once they are at the limit of two times production. The game leader is free to establish additional rules for a game. For example, the game leader can decide that players can maintain an oversold or overbought position for no more than a day. Position limits are there to limit pricing choices to activities that manage risk. By setting limits at two times production, Commodity Challenge recognizes time lags in getting orders filled and the complicated nature of placing and unwinding hedges Futures vs. Options Positions Commodity Challenge limits buying and selling transactions to no more than two times production. In the position report, the following buying transactions will be viewed as ownership positions (aka long positions) 1. grain ownership 2. the purchase of futures contracts 3. the purchase of call options 4. the sale of put options While in the role of a grain producer, most players will find that their purchases in Commodity Challenge are generally limited to offsetting transactions, i.e., buying back futures contracts or put options sold earlier, or selling back call options purchased earlier in the game. The following transactions will be viewed as selling positions (aka short positions) 1. grain sales (cash and forward) 2. the sale of futures contracts 3. the purchase of put options 4. the sale of call options While each of these actions are viewed as equals in terms of their affect on position, as pricing tools they are far from equal. Grain sales speak for themselves. Make a sale to your local market and you know the exact price received for your product. Make a sale in the forward market and you also know the exact price but don t forget to consider the cost of storing grain until the grain is delivered. Selling futures is the most common form of hedging for commercial grain merchandisers, where price forecasting is avoided and hedging is standard operating procedure. By selling futures against cash grain ownership, the risk of lower prices is eliminated and replaced by basis risk, or the difference between cash and futures prices. Selling futures also eliminates the opportunity to get a higher price. Buying put options is buying the right to sell futures contracts. The cost is higher than futures, but using them allows a producer to enjoy the benefits of rising prices, if it happens. Buying puts would be preferred by someone with a strong opinion that prices will rise sharply in the future. Selling call options is yet another alternative to selling cash or futures. Sellers of call receive premiums but accept other risks. Players need to understand that, by definition, this is not true hedging. Selling calls might be considered by someone with a strong opinion that prices will stay relatively flat in the months ahead.. To complicate the position report, buying puts and selling calls can be combined to create minimum

20 20 Commodity Challenge Help and maximum pricing opportunities. Because of the way these tools play off each other, the position report only recognizes the greater of the two positions in net positions Open Orders Open orders are cash, futures and options orders that have been placed but remain unfilled. It is good practice to revisit your open orders on a regular basis and cancel the orders that are no longer relevant to your pricing activities Transactions Here is a detailed summary of your cash, forward, futures and options transactions in the game todate Brokerage The brokerage report is under construction.

21 Toolbox

22 22 Commodity Challenge Help 2 Toolbox Enter topic text here. 2.1 Admin This section is open only to Game Administrators Manage Games Game administrators can edit existing games. Add a commodity, enable futures and/or options, change an end date, etc. Administrators can also view a list of players participating in the game Manage Users Game administrators can manage users. They can, for example, lock out a user from a specific game. 2.2 Settings Change your username and password here, and let the world know as much (or as little) as you want them to know about you Profile Settings Here's your chance to tell the world as much (or as little) as you want about yourself. 2.3 Add/Edit Game The ability to create and add new Commodity Challenge games is limited to Game Administrators. If you are not a Game Administrator, but would like to see a new game created, please contact Edward Usset at usset001@umn.edu or Game Administrators can set up a new game with themselves as the Game Leader. Game Leaders cannot create games, but can modify certain game settings and access Game Player records Game Title The game title should be unique among currently active games in Commodity Challenge Game Description The Game Description should include identifying information about this game, such as commodity names and markets Game Leader Select the Game Leader from this list Game Password If this is an open game (aka open for anyone to play), leave the Game Password blank. Otherwise, enter a password to be given to a group of users to allow them to join the game.

23 Toolbox Game Start Date/Time On this date, users will be able to join the game and begin playing Game Registration Close Date/Time Users will be able to join this game up until this date Game End Date/Time The game will officially end on this date. All open positions will be closed and "marked to market" as of 3 pm Central time on this day Enabled Transactions Cash Sales are enabled by default. Enable Futures and Option contracts here. These can be enabled once the game begins, but cannot be disabled Commission Rate Commissions on futures trades are a one-time charge, made when a position is exited. Commission on options trades are charged half-in and half-out Your Commodities Add a commodity and market using the tool provided. You may add up to four commodities per game. In addition, you may add the same commodity more than once with different harvest dates. For example, if you want to enable a post harvest game for corn harvested on 10/1/2012 and a pre harvest game for corn to be harvested on 10/1/2013, you will enter each separately. 2.4 Games Enter topic text here.

24 24 Commodity Challenge Help Endnotes 2... (after index)

25 Back Cover