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    January 26, 2023

    HR Futures: Waiting for Clearer Signals of a Pickup in Demand

    Written by Jack Marshall

    Healthy hot-rolled (HR) futures activity year to date has been spurred by a pickup in physical sales as the market breaks into the first quarter of 2023.  

    Open interest climbed from roughly 440,000 ST a side to about 520,000 ST a side before the January contract rolled off, and daily trading volume averaged north of 28,000 ST. Since year-end, some mills have announced an additional HR price increase to $800/ST, which has led the HR spot indexes to run up $84/ST (12/28/22 $664/ST to 1/25/2023 $748/ST).

    Jakc Marshall, SMU Contrubutor

    Jack Marshall

    Jack Marshall has over 30 years of experience trading and marketing financial futures and swaps, including currencies. Before joining Crunch Risk in 2012, Marshall was responsible for Forex Origination for BofA Merrill Lynch in their Chicago office. For Crunch Risk, he focuses on Ferrous scrap futures and helps manage client communications. Marshall is a regular contributor to the Steel Market Update newsletter covering topics including steel and steel scrap futures. He is NFA registered Associated Person and holds a Series 3 license. Marshall can be reached at jack.marshall@crunchrisk.com.

    Read more from Jack Marshall

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