Copper (HG) contract specifications: hours, tick size, options, the reports that move it and typical daily range.
Contract Specs · Copper (COMEX)
CME Group · Verified July 2026 · Typical-day figures computed from The Traders Brief’s own 16-year database
The economy’s metal, in one card. COMEX copper is quoted in cents that are worth real money, runs half on China data that lands overnight, and rotates through the same five active months as silver. Specs, hours, options, reports, and the typical-day math from our data.
| Product / symbol | HG — COMEX Copper futures |
| Exchange | COMEX (CME Group), traded on CME Globex |
| Contract unit | 25,000 pounds |
| Price quotation | U.S. dollars and cents per pound |
| Minimum tick | $0.0005 per pound = $12.50 per contract |
| One-cent move | $0.01 per pound = $250 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 | 8:20 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET — the COMEX window; settlement prints at 1:00 p.m. ET, earliest of the metals |
| Options on futures | Yes — monthly options (HX); a professional’s pool, thinner than gold’s. Detail below |
| Active months | Mar (H), May (K), Jul (N), Sep (U), Dec (Z) — same rotation as silver |
| Last trading day | Third-to-last business day of the delivery month |
| Settlement | Physical delivery via COMEX warehouses. Physical tightness between COMEX, LME, and Shanghai stocks periodically produces violent squeezes in this contract |
| Margin | Set by the exchange and your broker — confirm current requirements |
Copper’s U.S. prime window runs 8:20 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET with the earliest settlement of the metals at 1:00 p.m., but copper is the least American market on this list: China consumes roughly half the world’s copper, and the data that moves it, PMIs, credit numbers, property news, lands in the U.S. overnight. It is routine for copper’s day to be made in Asia and merely managed in New York. If you trade it, the overnight session is not optional awareness.
Copper options (HX monthlies) exist and are used by the professional trade, but this is the thinnest options market of the majors covered here: quotes are wide beyond the front month and size moves the market. Most speculative copper expression happens in the futures themselves; the options are hedging tools more than trading vehicles.
The recurring releases that move this market, in rough order of importance.
| Report | When | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| China data (PMIs, credit, property) | Monthly cycle, overnight ET | China is half of world copper demand; its data lands while the U.S. sleeps |
| FOMC decisions & CPI | As scheduled | The macro-growth and dollar channel; copper trades as the market’s growth thermometer |
| Exchange inventories (COMEX, LME, SHFE) | Daily | Visible stocks are the scoreboard for physical tightness; draws and squeezes start here |
| Nonfarm payrolls | First Fridays, 8:30 a.m. ET | The U.S. growth pulse |
| 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 copper contract’s average daily high-to-low range was 15.2 cents per pound, worth $3,792 per contract, with a median of $3,169 against a five-year average of $2,777. The largest session traveled $33,175 per contract; copper’s tape is orderly most days and then delivers a tariff headline or a squeeze that moves a month’s range in an afternoon.
The contract months that actually lead this board, with the stretch each one typically holds the front.
| Contract | Code | Typically leads |
|---|---|---|
| March | H | leads roughly Dec – Feb (the long seat) |
| May | K | leads roughly Mar – Apr |
| July | N | leads roughly May – Jun |
| September | U | leads roughly Jul – Aug |
| December | Z | leads roughly Sep – Nov (the other long seat) |
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 copper futures?
$12.50 per contract; the minimum move is $0.0005 per pound on a 25,000-pound contract. A one-cent move is worth $250.
Which copper contract months are active?
Five: March, May, July, September, and December (H, K, N, U, Z), the same rotation as silver.
How much does copper move in a day?
Over the last 12 months the average daily range was 15.2 cents per pound, $3,792 per contract, median $3,169, by our own database.
When do HG contracts expire?
Trading terminates on the third-to-last business day of the delivery month; volume rolls weeks 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.