40+ years trading veteran sees multi-year bull market in agriculture...but not for the "dumb" money

Bill Plummer's understanding of the agricultural markets comes from 40+ years of experience as an agricultural trader. His unique commodities trading advisor, Range Wise, was launched on the foundation of 20 years of agricultural futures trading. Bill’s approach is distinctive from the broad scope of CTA’s in that his firm has a narrow agricultural focus, is purely discretionary, and uses a fundamental analysis as opposed to technical analysis. Bill’s knowledge of the fundamentals allows him to use options-based, intensive overlay strategies to minimize risk, something that very few CTA’s can do.

In this Opalesque.TV interview, Bill sheds light onto how an agricultural trader views commodities markets. He describes the consistent, historical “boom and bust” patterns that have persisted like clockwork since the 1950’s.

These cycles have recently accelerated radically due to low stock levels and modern developments such as the rising demand from emerging economies and the growing ethanol industry. Bill was able to retrace 4-5 year price cycles that can now occur in as condensed a time frame as 12 months, providing immense opportunity in the agricultural markets and a long-term bull market.

Learn about the following:
• Characteristics of the agricultural futures markets
• A unique CTA model: How Bill uses options overlays to minimize risk
• The next 7-10 year bull market in agricultural trading
• Why the world is on a ‘knife’s edge’ in terms of supply and demand
• What is ‘dumb’ money in the agricultural space

Bill Plummer Bio:
William H. Plummer holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of California at Riverside. Bill began his career in the futures market in 1969 as an Egg Price Analyst for M-S Commodities. Since that time he has actively participated in the futures and cash markets not only by acting as a floor broker at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and account executive with various brokerage firms but also by trading his own personal account.

Bill served as a Vice President and Director of the Livestock and Meat Trading Group at Drexel Burnham Lambert. During his tenure, he developed their commercial meat futures business and traded a livestock portfolio for the firm's proprietary account. In addition, he developed and oversaw cattle feeding operations of more than 50,000 head of cattle and encompassed operations in five western states and Mexico. At Drexel, Bill and his team developed an intricate portfolio hedging model for use by the firm and its institutional clients to quantify risk relationships in the hedging of live animal production. He also orchestrated the creation of a sophisticated system for the forward pricing of meat and meat products, as well as the management of price risk associated with the production and ownership of meat inventories.

While a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from 1972 to 1991, Bill served on various committees, including Commodity Representative and Customer Complaints, and Business Conduct. He is also a founding trustee of the Commodity Futures Political Action Committee and the National Introducing Brokers Association. Bill has also served on the nominating committee of the National Futures Association, a regulatory body that governs the commodities industry. In 1991, Bill founded Range Wise, Inc., a Commodity Trading Advisor and serves as the sole trader for the firm.
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Bill Plummer's understanding of the agricultural markets comes from 40+ years of experience as an agricultural trader. His unique commodities trading advisor, Range Wise, was launched on the foundation of 20 years of agricultural futures trading. Bill’s approach is distinctive from the broad scope of CTA’s in that his firm has a narrow agricultural focus, is purely discretionary, and uses a fundamental analysis as opposed to technical analysis. Bill’s knowledge of the fundamentals allows him to use options-based, intensive overlay strategies to m ...more