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October Lean Hogs opened unchanged, rallied to an early high and then broke down to the low at 80.125. It turned the corner and rallied to the high of the day at 81.325. It drifted the rest of the session and settled near the high at 81.125. Hogs are back in consolidation mode, trading between 81.925 and 79.675. We have rebounded off Friday’s low and are close to the consolidation high but Hogs are lacking energy. Volume is light and it seems funds have continued to build short positions. This could back fire if we can get a breakout above the consolidation high. But with the listless volume they seem comfortable. The cutout and cash indices have fallen and are at their respective lows for the recent move. The one-day cutout strengthened so there is hope we can see a bounce in the indices. With slaughter and production levels down these last few weeks, it is disappointing we have not seen cutout prices rising. This has kept futures under wraps and we need to see the cutout continue to build upon today’s strength to bring a positive tone to the markets. With pork prices so cheap it is disappointing we haven’t seen any surge in demand for product in the grocery stores. Marketing of pork needs to improve and something needs to be done to get the American consumer to view pork as a viable alternative to beef and not just the middle child in the meat hierarchy. We’ll see!... A failure from the Monday high could see price test support at 80.40. Support then comes in at 79.80. If price can hold settlement, it could re-test resistance at 81.70 and the declining 13-DMA now at 81.85. Resistance then comes in at the declining 21-DMA now at 83.075.
The Pork Cutout Index decreased and is at 98.00 as of 08/21/2026.
The Lean Hog Index decreased and is at 93.26 as of 08/20/2026.
Estimated Slaughter for Monday is 490,000, which is above last week’s 484,000 and last year’s 451,756.
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Ben DiCostanzo
Senior Livestock Analyst
Walsh Trading, Inc.
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