WTI Crude Oil (CL) contract specifications: hours, tick size, options, the reports that move it and typical daily range.
Contract Specs · WTI Crude Oil
NYMEX (CME Group) · Verified July 2026 · Typical-day figures computed from The Traders Brief’s own 16-year database
Everything on one card: the hard specifications, the tick math in actual dollars, the hours where the real business gets done, the options market, the reports that move the barrel, and the number no exchange page will give you, what a typical crude trading day is worth per contract, measured from our own data. If you trade CL or are sizing up to, this is the reference.
| Product / symbol | CL — Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures |
| Exchange | NYMEX (CME Group), traded on CME Globex |
| Contract unit | 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) |
| Price quotation | U.S. dollars and cents per barrel |
| Minimum tick | $0.01 per barrel = $10.00 per contract |
| Full point value | $1.00 per barrel = $1,000 per contract |
| Trading hours | Sunday–Friday, 6:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET the next day, with a daily halt from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET |
| Prime session | 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET — the window where volume, spreads, and the institutional flow concentrate; daily settlement prints at 2:30 p.m. ET |
| Options on futures | Yes — monthly options (LO) on every delivery month, deep and liquid, plus fast-growing weekly expiries. Detail below |
| Listed months | Monthly — all 12 delivery months (F through Z), listed years forward |
| Last trading day | Trading terminates 3 business days before the 25th calendar day of the month preceding delivery (4 business days before, when the 25th is not a business day) |
| Settlement | Physical delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma. Position holders who do not intend to make or take delivery exit or roll before expiration; the volume-based hand-off to the next month typically happens a few sessions earlier |
| Margin | Set by the exchange and your broker, and changes with volatility — always confirm current requirements with your broker |
Over the last 12 months (258 sessions through July 23, 2026), the front-month CL contract’s average daily high-to-low range was $3.47 per barrel, worth $3,470 per contract, about 347 ticks of travel. The median day ran $2.11 ($2,110), the gap between the two telling you this year’s tape has been spiked by big days rather than uniformly wild: the largest session traveled $38.29 per barrel, $38,290 on a single contract, during this spring’s squeeze, and the quietest just $0.62. The five-year average sits at $2.95 ($2,950). Size positions against the median day and survive the spikes, not the other way around.
The screen is open nearly 23 hours, but crude does not trade like a 23-hour market. Volume, tight spreads, and the institutional flow concentrate in the 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET window, when the U.S. physical desks, the funds, and the options market are all at their posts, and the day’s reports land inside it. The daily settlement, the price the whole industry marks to, prints at 2:30 p.m. ET. The overnight session trades, and headlines can move it violently, but it is a thinner market where size costs more to move. If you only watch one stretch of the day, watch that one.
Crude carries one of the deepest options markets in futures. The standard monthly options (LO) list on every delivery month, are American-style exercising into the future, and expire three business days before the underlying future stops trading. The monthlies are where the depth lives: strikes are thick, markets are tight, and open interest in the front months rivals anything outside equity indexes. Around them, weekly and short-dated expiries (including Tuesday and Thursday weeklies) have become some of the fastest-growing contracts on the exchange for trading event risk, an OPEC meeting or an inventory report, without paying for a full month of time. If you hedge or trade CL and have never looked at the options board, you are seeing half the market.
Crude has a fixed news diet, and its calendar is half the job. These are the recurring releases that move the barrel, in rough order of weekly importance.
| Report | When | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| EIA Weekly Petroleum Status | Wednesdays 10:30 a.m. ET (usually — holiday weeks push it back a day) | The inventory report. Crude, gasoline, and distillate stocks, refinery runs, demand. The single biggest scheduled mover of the week |
| API Weekly Statistics | Tuesdays ~4:30 p.m. ET | The industry’s preview of Wednesday’s number, released into the thin evening session; sets the overnight tone |
| OPEC+ meetings & monthly report | Meetings as scheduled; report mid-month | Production policy for a third of world supply. Meeting headlines can move crude more than any inventory print |
| IEA Oil Market Report | Monthly, mid-month | The demand-side benchmark forecast; big revisions reset the macro narrative |
| Baker Hughes rig count | Fridays 1:00 p.m. ET | The forward-looking U.S. supply signal; quiet weeks trade it, busy weeks ignore it |
| CFTC Commitment of Traders | Fridays 3:30 p.m. ET | Who is long and who is short, by trader class — the positioning backdrop for every move |
The same diet feeds Brent, heating oil, and gasoline; natural gas runs on its own report, the EIA storage number on Thursdays.
Each CL contract leads the board for roughly a month before handing off. Every month below links to its full year-by-year study in our Contract Almanac.
| Contract | Code | Typically leads |
|---|---|---|
| January | F | Nov 18 – Dec 16 |
| February | G | Dec 17 – Jan 16 |
| March | H | Jan 18 – Feb 15 |
| April | J | Feb 17 – Mar 16 |
| May | K | Mar 18 – Apr 16 |
| June | M | Apr 18 – May 17 |
| July | N | May 18 – Jun 17 |
| August | Q | Jun 18 – Jul 17 |
| September | U | Jul 18 – Aug 17 |
| October | V | Aug 18 – Sep 17 |
| November | X | Sep 18 – Oct 17 |
| December | Z | Oct 18 – Nov 16 |
Knowing what a tick is worth doesn’t tell you where crude sits today, what the 16-year record says about the session in front of you, or the levels that matter into the next open. That is what The Traders Brief does every morning, across energy, metals, and the indexes.
See today’s read →How much is one tick in crude oil futures?
$10.00 per contract. The minimum move is $0.01 per barrel on a 1,000-barrel contract. A full $1.00 move is worth $1,000.
What are CL trading hours?
Sunday through Friday, 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET the next day, with a daily one-hour halt from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET. Effectively a 23-hour market five days a week.
How much does crude oil move in a day?
Over the last 12 months the average daily range was $3.47 per barrel ($3,470 per contract) and the median $2.11 ($2,110), by our own database. The five-year average is $2.95.
When do CL contracts expire?
Trading terminates 3 business days before the 25th calendar day of the month preceding delivery. Most traders roll earlier, when volume hands off to the next month, typically around the 17th to 20th.
Does crude oil have options?
Yes, one of the deepest options markets in futures: monthly options (LO) on every delivery month, expiring three business days before the underlying future, plus weekly and short-dated expiries for event risk.
What time does the EIA report come out?
The Weekly Petroleum Status Report is released Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. ET in normal weeks; holiday weeks typically push it back a day. API’s preview lands Tuesday around 4:30 p.m. ET.
Specifications reflect the exchange’s published contract terms as of July 2026 and can be amended by the exchange; confirm current terms and margin requirements with your broker before trading. Typical-day figures are computed from The Traders Brief’s historical database and describe the past, not a forecast. © 2026 The Traders Brief.