RBOB Gasoline (RB) contract specifications: hours, tick size, options, the reports that move it and typical daily range.
Contract Specs · RBOB Gasoline
CME Group · Verified July 2026 · Typical-day figures computed from The Traders Brief’s own 16-year database
The pump price’s wholesale ancestor, in one card. RBOB trades in gallons like heating oil, runs on the same reports as crude, and carries a seasonal quirk no other contract has: the summer-grade and winter-grade specification difference that shapes its whole calendar. Specs, hours, options, reports, and the typical day, from our data.
| Product / symbol | RB — RBOB Gasoline 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 (OB) on every delivery month; a professional’s market, thinner than crude’s. Detail below |
| Listed months | Monthly — all 12 delivery months. March-through-September deliveries are summer-grade spec, the rest winter-grade, and the price step between grades is real |
| 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 |
| Margin | Set by the exchange and your broker, changes with volatility — confirm current requirements with your broker |
The 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET window is gasoline’s real session, same as the rest of the complex, settling at 2:30. One grade note that belongs in a specs card: the April through October delivery months are summer-specification gasoline, costlier to make, and the calendar price jumps between winter and summer contracts are structural, not signals. Know which grade you are holding.
Monthly options (OB) list on every delivery month, American-style, expiring shortly before the underlying future. Like heating oil’s OH complex, the front months are workable and the back months are wide; the deep product-options liquidity in energy lives in crude. Desks often express gasoline views through the crack against crude rather than outright OB positions.
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 RB contract’s average daily high-to-low range was 8.67 cents per gallon, worth $3,639 per contract. The median day ran 6.04 cents ($2,535), the five-year average sits at $3,518, and the largest session traveled $28,497 per contract. Summer tapes run hotter than winter ones; the median is your sizing anchor.
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 gasoline 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 is the summer-grade / winter-grade difference?
March-through-September deliveries are the costlier summer specification; the rest are winter-grade. The price step between grades is built into the calendar, which is why month-to-month price jumps around the switches are structural.
How much does gasoline move in a day?
Over the last 12 months the average daily range was 8.67 cents per gallon, $3,639 per contract, median $2,535, by our own database.
When do RB contracts expire?
Trading terminates on the last business day of the month preceding delivery; volume hands off to the next month a few sessions earlier.
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.