Heating Oil / ULSD (HO) contract specifications: hours, tick size, options, the reports that move it and typical daily range.
Contract Specs · Heating Oil (ULSD)
CME Group · Verified July 2026 · Typical-day figures computed from The Traders Brief’s own 16-year database
The diesel barrel, in one card: NY Harbor ULSD is quoted in gallons, ticks in hundredths of a cent, and has been the most violent mover in the energy complex this year. Specs, the hours that matter, the options picture, the reports that move it, and what a typical heating oil day is actually worth.
| Product / symbol | HO — NY Harbor ULSD (heating oil / diesel) futures |
| Exchange | NYMEX (CME Group), traded on CME Globex |
| Contract unit | 42,000 gallons (1,000 barrels) |
| Price quotation | U.S. dollars and cents per gallon |
| Minimum tick | $0.0001 per gallon = $4.20 per contract |
| One-cent move | $0.01 per gallon = $420 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 — volume, spreads, and institutional flow concentrate here; settlement prints at 2:30 p.m. ET |
| Options on futures | Yes — monthly options (OH) on every delivery month; workable depth in the front months, thinner than crude’s. Detail below |
| Listed months | Monthly — all 12 delivery months, listed years forward |
| Last trading day | Last business day of the month preceding the delivery month |
| Settlement | Physical delivery, New York Harbor. Non-delivery traders exit or roll before expiration; the volume hand-off happens a few sessions earlier |
| Margin | Set by the exchange and your broker, changes with volatility — confirm current requirements with your broker |
Same prime window as the rest of the U.S. energy complex: 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, with settlement at 2:30. Heating oil adds one wrinkle worth knowing: much of its story is the crack spread against crude, and the crack trades most honestly when both legs are in their liquid window, another reason the prime session is where this contract’s real business happens.
Monthly options (OH) list on every delivery month, American-style, expiring shortly before the underlying future. The market is genuinely usable in the front months, but it is a professional’s pool, thinner than crude’s LO complex, with wider quotes beyond the front. Many desks express product views through crude options plus the crack instead. If you trade OH, work orders and respect the width.
The recurring releases that move this market, in rough order of 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 week’s biggest scheduled mover |
| API Weekly Statistics | Tuesdays ~4:30 p.m. ET | The industry’s preview of Wednesday’s number, released into the thin evening session |
| OPEC+ meetings & monthly report | Meetings as scheduled; report mid-month | Production policy for a third of world supply; meeting headlines can outrun any inventory print |
| IEA Oil Market Report | Monthly, mid-month | The demand-side benchmark; big revisions reset the macro narrative |
| Baker Hughes rig count | Fridays 1:00 p.m. ET | The forward-looking U.S. supply signal |
| 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 |
Over the last 12 months (258 sessions through July 23, 2026), the front HO contract’s average daily high-to-low range was 14.04 cents per gallon, worth $5,897 per contract, the largest typical day in the energy complex. The median day ran 8.68 cents ($3,644), the five-year average sits at $4,512, and the biggest single session traveled $52,643 per contract during this spring’s diesel squeeze. That gap between median and maximum is the whole risk story of this contract.
The contract months that actually lead this board, with the stretch each one typically holds the front.
| 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 this market 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 heating oil futures?
$4.20 per contract; the minimum move is $0.0001 per gallon on a 42,000-gallon contract. A one-cent move is worth $420.
What are HO trading hours?
Sunday through Friday, 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET the next day with the daily 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. halt; the prime window is 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET.
How much does heating oil move in a day?
Over the last 12 months the average daily range was 14.04 cents per gallon, $5,897 per contract, and the median $3,644, by our own database, the biggest typical day in the energy complex.
When do HO contracts expire?
Trading terminates on the last business day of the month preceding delivery. Most traders roll when volume hands off, typically mid-month.
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.