Basis and HTA contracts — Horizon Grain Guide

Basis and hedge-to-arrive (HTA) contracts work like flat-price forward contracts, with one difference: part of the price is set on a later day. A basis contract fixes the basis and leaves the futures price open. An HTA fixes the futures price and leaves the basis open. Until the open part is set, the contract is unpriced and can’t be settled.

Create the contract

Click Contracts in the menu, then New Contract.
Set Contract Type to Basis or Hedge-to-Arrive. The price fields change to match.
Enter the Contract Number from your paper copy.
Fill in Customer, Commodity, Bushels, and Delivery Window Start.
Enter the part of the price the paper fixes:
- Basis: Basis ($/bu) and Futures Month (for example DEC-2026). A basis under futures is entered as a negative number, such as -0.30. Leave Futures Price ($/bu) blank until the farmer prices.
- Hedge-to-Arrive: Futures Price ($/bu) and Futures Month. Leave Basis ($/bu) blank until the basis is set.
Click Create Contract.

The contract type can’t be changed after the contract is created. If you picked the wrong one, cancel it before any grain is delivered against it and create a new one.

Activate it and take loads

Click Activate once the paper is signed, then put loads on it from the Scale page the same way as any contract. An unpriced contract still takes loads; in the scale page’s contract list it shows as unpriced instead of a price. The Fulfilled line on the card counts closed loads.

Price it when the farmer calls

An unpriced contract shows an Unpriced badge, with a line under it such as DEC-2026 basis -$0.35, futures to be set. A Price button sits where Settle would be.

Two contract cards: a basis contract marked Unpriced with a Price button, beside a hedge-to-arrive contract priced at $4.22 per bushel with a Settle button — Left: a basis contract still waiting on its futures price. Right: an HTA that is fully priced.

Click Price on the contract card.
Enter the one missing number: Futures price ($/bu) for a basis contract, or Basis ($/bu) for an HTA.
Click Save Price.

The Price Contract window asking only for the futures price on a DEC-2026 basis contract — The Price Contract window asks only for the part the paper left open.

The card now shows the cash price per bushel (futures plus basis), and on an active contract the Settle button appears. Check the number before you save: once a price is saved there is no button to change it on an active contract.

Settle it

Click Settle, check the preview, and click Confirm Settlement. Settlement works the same as a flat-price contract; see Forward contracts.

Common questions

There’s no Settle button. The contract isn’t fully priced yet, or it hasn’t been activated. Price it first.
The farmer came up short. A contract with grain against it can’t be cancelled. Price it and settle it; settlement pays for what was delivered and closes out the rest.
The grain isn’t in the farmer’s storage balance. That’s expected. Once a load on a contract closes, the grain belongs to the elevator, even before the contract is priced, and isn’t charged storage.
The farmer’s grain is already in storage. Once the contract is priced, fill it from storage: see Apply stored grain to a contract. The sale pays the contract’s futures price plus its basis.
The farmer wants to sell stored grain while a contract is open. When you sell from storage, the form leaves out bushels already delivered against open contracts and tells you how many there are, so the same bushels can’t be paid for twice.