Oil Futures

Oil Futures or the Crude Oil Futures are the CFD contracts used for trading the crude oil market. Those who do not know much about the trade oil futures might think that it is complicated and risky. Well, in some ways, it can be but if the right strategy with a little patience is applied, then an investor could certainly make some money by investing in Oil Futures and its products.

First an investor should understand that oil futures trading is only the right, not the obligation, and crude oil can not be put at the strike price with the expiration rate. A person has to pay a premium to get that right. There is some difference in oil futures trading, like crude oil options are traded in barrels and the unleaded gas futures and heating oil futures are traded in gallons.

The standard trade oil futures is 1000 barrels (42,000) in size and has the value of $10 USD per one tick move and the size of the tick is 1 cent.

Electronically, Oil Futures are traded daily at the New York Mercantile Exchange from 18:00 to 17:15 EST of the week days from Sunday to Friday. So, in short a person can trade oil futures almost 24 hours a day. But practically it is not possible to trade for such a long time, so there should be some wondering hours which are best for the oil futures trading.

Crude oil futures give and provide for an easy and convenient way for individual investors to have access the commodities market. Light and sweet crude oil is preferred by refiners because of its low sulfur chemical content and relatively high yields of diesel fuel, gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel. These futures contracts are the most common and actively traded of the commodities. Much of the world's crude is also priced in dollars, millions of dollars, making it sensitive to fluctuations in the USD.

Other than electronic trading, NYMEX has an open outcry for oil futures trading, which is a classic form of trading in which a person make trades by selling or buying oil. This is floor trading and it happens from Monday to Friday and with timings from 9:00 till 14:30 EST. This is the best time for trading oil futures as the volatility in the price are highest during this session. However, the trading hours are different for European session, American and Asian session, but when we combine the open outcry, European trading and American trading, the craziest time for oil futures run from 09:00 till 12:00 EST, and this is the time of highest liquidity to generate profits. So, in my opinion if right oil futures trading tips are applied then definitely an investor is going to make profit from these Oil Futures.