Brent Crude Oil (BZ) December (Z) contract study: year-by-year results, the day-by-day shape of the move and where highs and lows printed.
Contract Almanac · Brent Crude
Every clean December Brent contract 2012–2025, measured over its tenure as the lead contract · Typically leads Sep 26 – Oct 25
The December contract leads from late September through most of October, the last stop before the Brent board’s losing autumn corridor, and its file splits the difference: 7 of 12 tenures higher but a flat median, with a distinctive shape, early lows, mid-tenure highs, and the shallowest worst-year on the entire board.
Each year is one contract, measured from the open of the day it took over the lead to the close of the day it handed off, the same roll convention used across all Traders Brief research. One honesty note specific to Brent: the contract’s early CME-era history contains roll irregularities, and those irregular tenures are excluded, leaving 11 to 14 clean observations per month rather than the full 16 available elsewhere. The counts shown are the cleaned record. All highs and lows are the contract’s own trades, marked by trading day of the tenure, not calendar day.