wheats.aiCME CHICAGO · LEAN HOGS · CASH-SETTLED
CME lean hog futures (HE)
CME lean hog futures (Globex code HE) are the world’s benchmark hog price contract. Each contract covers 40,000 pounds of hog carcasses and is settled in cash: at expiry, open positions are closed against the CME Lean Hog Index, the two-day weighted average of US cash prices for barrows and gilts reported to USDA. Packers, producers and feeders use them to fix margins months ahead.
- Contract size
- 40,000 lb
- Minimum price movement
- 0.025¢/lb = $10
- Contract months
- Feb · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Oct · Dec
- Last trading day
- 10th business day, 12:00 CT
Listed HE contracts and their seasonal path
Because hogs cannot be stored like grain, each contract month prices the hogs that will reach market in that month, and the curve follows the herd’s seasonal supply cycle rather than a cost of carry. Wheats therefore shows a seasonal path instead of futures prices: the average change in the monthly lean hog value from the current month to each contract month over the last ten complete years (2016–2025), applied to the latest two-day value of $57.73/cwt on 13 Nov 2026. Last trading days are from the CME lean hog calendar.
| Contract | Month code | Last trading day | Seasonal path ($/cwt) | Average change | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HE Dec 2026 | Z6 | 14 Dec 2026 | 55.14 | −4.5% | −9.9 to +13.2% |
| HE Feb 2027 | G7 | 12 Feb 2027 | 60.51 | +4.8% | −14.9 to +51.5% |
| HE Apr 2027 | J7 | 14 Apr 2027 | 63.14 | +9.4% | −18.4 to +47.8% |
| HE May 2027 | K7 | 14 May 2027 | 68.04 | +17.9% | −13.0 to +58.3% |
| HE Jun 2027 | M7 | 14 Jun 2027 | 71.19 | +23.3% | −16.8 to +71.9% |
| HE Jul 2027 | N7 | 15 Jul 2027 | 72.52 | +25.6% | −19.3 to +86.6% |
| HE Aug 2027 | Q7 | 13 Aug 2027 | 70.66 | +22.4% | −15.7 to +68.4% |
| HE Oct 2027 | V7 | 14 Oct 2027 | 63.34 | +9.7% | −16.0 to +30.3% |
HE futures prices and settlements are CME market data and are not shown on Wheats. The lean hog board in the Wheats terminal adds the USDA WASDE quarterly hog price projection and the expiry probability for the front contract.
How HE futures settle
Trading in an expiring contract stops at noon Chicago time on the tenth business day of the contract month. All open positions are then cash-settled at the CME Lean Hog Index for the two-day period ending that day, so on expiry the futures price converges to the cash index by construction. Wheats recalculates the index from USDA data on the lean hog index page; the gap between a futures price and that value is the market’s expected change in cash hogs to expiry.
Managed money positioning in lean hogs
The CFTC’s weekly Commitments of Traders report put managed money (hedge funds and commodity trading advisers) at a net short of 59,072 contracts in the week of 3 Nov 2026, −7,426 on the week, or −18.2% of 324,455 contracts of open interest. At month ends since Jun 2006, funds were less long than now in 0% of months.
Sources
Contract terms: CME Rulebook chapter 152, Lean Hog Futures. Cash hogs: USDA AMS Livestock Mandatory Reporting. Positioning: CFTC Commitments of Traders, disaggregated, futures only (US public domain). Wheats provides information aggregation, not trading recommendations. See also the pork cutout value and China hog prices and global pork demand.