Will cattle futures be able to find their footing now that we have turned the calendar over into what many view as a more friendly time of year?
Live Cattle (December)
December live cattle futures were able to gain some ground back on Friday but fell short of getting above key resistance levels. Those important resistance levels remain intact to start a new month of trade, we’ve outlined that as 179.10-179.97. A close above this pocket could start to neutralize the technical damage that was done through the month of August. Seasonally, we view the first half of September as a more friendly time of year for live cattle, especially relative to the month of August.
- Resistance:179.10-179.97, 182.07*
- Pivot: 177.50
- Support: 175.92-176.10, 173.17-173.87***

Chart of Interest
Friday’s Commitment of Traders report showed Managed Money were holding a net long position of 41,656 futures/options contracts, that was down about 3.5k from the previous week and is the smallest net long position since May.

Feeder Cattle (October)
October feeder cattle finished last week’s trade right near the 20-day moving average, which it seemed to be tethered to through the last four sessions of the month. The trend remains lower but relief to start a new month of trade shouldn’t be unexpected. The first hurdle for the Bulls to get over comes in from 238.80-239.825. A close above that pocket could extend the rally towards 242.75-243.45. This pocket represents the 50% retracement from the start of the selloff on August first to the lows from August 21st. This has also acted and held as resistance in the middle of last month’s trade.
- Resistance: 242.75-243.45, 244.90-245.87*
- Pivot: 238.80-239.825
- Support: 236.57-236.75, 232.75-233.95*

Chart of Interest
Friday’s Commitment of Traders report showed Managed Money were holding a net short position of 3,567 futures/options contracts.

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