The grains are "24 hours" now and have been for awhile.
Its not so much about understanding the report but rather knowing that one is due and either be flat and trade (price action) after its released.
From what I understand, its all about the carry over amount from the previous season, of whats left in the world. That is when the market panics if the current crop has issues.
I bought a book from Grandmill (I think that's the authors name) and it was his "system" on "investing" in the grains based on the carry over number, but you need to haev long term stats and there are some services out there that keep track of the data for you, you just need to come up with the fee for it.
Not to mention the COT (Commitment of Traders) numbers has an affect as well. In other word open interest.
If you understand open interest and the meaning behind the numbers, that's all you really need to know because there are other traders who know more about the fundamentals about each crop, ie Cargill, Bunge, etc.
But it is nice to know how the crop grows, maybe having a farmer friend is not so bad after all that deals with the crops.
Different train of thinking but if you want to make the big money in grains or any market, it those daily trends that generate the big money, not scalping ticks here and there. Learning how to sit in a winning trade is one of the toughest thing one can master in trading if you ask me.
Just ask yourself how many trades you've closed out "early" because you could not sit for maximum gain. I know I've sat through some maximum loses in the past.
