On August 1, 2006 the agricultural futures started trading side-by-side, and a few months later the volume in the electronic grains surpassed the volume of the pit traded contracts.

The volatility and nice trends attracted many traders, and today day trading the grains is more popular than ever.However, when trading the grains you should keep in mind that these markets "lock limit" when there are strong moves.

A lock limit occurs when the trading price of a futures contract
arrives at the exchanges predetermined limit price. At the lock limit,
trades above or below the lock price are not executed. As a trader you want to avoid these situations, because especially in 2008 there were several days when the grain markets were locked limit. If you are in the wrong side of a trade when the markets are locked, the consequences can be disastrous.

Here's an easy way to calculate the limit level to avoid being trapped in a trade:

1. Go to www.cbot.com. On the right hand side of the front page you will see the quotes of the most current contract.
2. Then you click on the contract and check the previous settlement price
3. Go to http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/Price-Limit-Update.html and check the current daily price limits.
4. Now you just need to add and subtract these price limits from the previous settlement price.

Hope that helps.