Though it has gone through many revisions since the inaugural use, the Continuous Commodity Index (CCI) has aimed to provide an accurate representation of commodity price trends. Contract specifications refer to the CCI futures on ICE Futures US.

Contract Size: $500 x Index

Price Quote & Tick Size: Quoted in index points, to two decimal places. (e.g.,300.05, 300.10, 300.15).01 = $5; tick size is .05 = $25

Contract Months: January, February, April, June, August and November

Trading Specs: Futures trade on ICE US from 2:30 am to 2:45 pm next day

Daily Price Limit: None as of publishing; please consult exchange for additional details on limits.

Trading Symbols: CI

CCI Facts

The Commodity Research Bureau first developed an index based on commodity prices in the middle part of the last century. Originally, it was composed of twenty-eight commodities. The current representation of the CCI contains seventeen. They include:

• Crude Oil
• Heating Oil
• Natural Gas
• Corn
• Soybeans
• Wheat
• Copper
• Cotton
• Live Cattle
• Lean Hogs
• Gold
• Platinum
• Silver
• Cocoa
• Coffee
• Orange Juice
• Sugar #11

This kind of index may be more difficult to understand than a basket of stocks since the active contract for each commodity changes. The change occurs when the nearby futures contract expires. For this reason, this kind of index may have to be rebalanced. The original CRB index was also heavily weighted towards commodities in the agricultural sector. Now, the balance is relative to the following chart:
http://futurespress.com/imgndoc/LAF/LAFWeekly_CRBIndex.jpg

Key terms for this market include:
Commodity Index - a fixed-weight or weighted index of the prices for select commodities. The index may use futures or spot market prices.

Key Uses

CCI futures may be incorporated into strategies to hedge cash market positions, diversify holdings, or as a means to trade a directional bias on the possible future price trends for commodities.

Key Concerns

Since commodity prices are the constituents of the index, the CCI may be influenced by some or all of the same things which will cause fluctuations in commodity prices. These could include – but are not limited to – events or fundamentals like the following:

• Industry reports
• Inventories or supply reports for specific commodities
• National or global recessions
• Weather issues
• Crop reports
• Central bank meetings or policy changes
• US dollar movements