Futures markets exist to meet the needs of commercial trade having forward commodity dealings. The dynamics of commodity markets lead to continual changes in forward pricing needs as well as price risk. Market structures change and markets often deviate from the competitive model. Much of the variability in the use of futures. markets can be traced not only to the basic characteristics of each commodity but also to many of the structural related characteristics of the markets. In the following analysis, an econometric model incorporating many of these characteristics is developed to partially explain changes in hedging, speculation and volume activity.