WTI Crude Oil (Light Sweet) specifications
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), energy
- Tick
- $100.01 per tick
- One point
- $1,000per contract
- Initial margin
- $9,957.20exchange, as of 27 Oct 2026
- Front contract
- CLZ26roll by 18 Nov 2026
Specs checked as of How we source this
Contract terms
| Symbol | CL |
|---|---|
| Exchange | New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) |
| Contract unit | 1,000 barrels |
| Price quotation | USD per barrel |
| Tick size | 0.01 |
| Tick value | $10 per contract |
| Value of one point | $1,000 per contract |
| Currency | USD |
| Contract months | Jan (F), Feb (G), Mar (H), Apr (J), May (K), Jun (M), Jul (N), Aug (Q), Sep (U), Oct (V), Nov (X), Dec (Z) |
| Settlement | Physical delivery |
| Trading hours | CME Globex. Sunday open 17:00 CT, Friday close 16:00 CT, 60-minute daily maintenance break. Hours in your time zone |
| Expiry | Last trade: 3 business days before the 25th calendar day of the month before the contract month (4 if the 25th is not a business day). First notice: the business day after last trade. Next expiries |
| Exchange specification | https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/energy/crude-oil/light-sweet-crude.contractSpecs.html |
What these terms mean
The WTI Crude Oil (Light Sweet) futures contract (CL) is listed on New York Mercantile Exchange. One contract represents 1,000 barrels, and prices are quoted in USD per barrel. The minimum price movement, or tick, is 0.01, worth $10 per contract. A move of one full point is therefore worth $1,000 per contract, and every profit, loss and margin figure for CL scales from those two numbers.
CL is listed for these contract months: Jan (F), Feb (G), Mar (H), Apr (J), May (K), Jun (M), Jul (N), Aug (Q), Sep (U), Oct (V), Nov (X), Dec (Z). CL is physically delivered: holding a position into the delivery period can create an obligation to make or take delivery, which is why speculative traders normally close or roll before the first notice day or last trading day. The rollover page lists the next expiries and the dates that matter for each.
The values on this page come from the exchange's own contract specification and were last checked on 27 Oct 2026. Exchanges amend contract terms from time to time, most often trading hours and tick sizes. Where a value here disagrees with the exchange, the exchange is right; the methodology page explains how each field is checked, and any field we have not confirmed against the exchange is marked on this page.
Related contracts
- Micro WTI Crude Oil (MCL): tick value $1
Compare
- CL vs MCL: WTI Crude Oil (Light Sweet) and Micro WTI Crude Oil
- CL vs NG: WTI Crude Oil (Light Sweet) and Henry Hub Natural Gas
Sources
- https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/energy/crude-oil/light-sweet-crude.contractSpecs.html: primary reference for all contract terms; linked, not machine-read (cmegroup.com blocks automated access) 2026-10-27
- https://www.ampfutures.com/trading-info/contract-specifications: cross-check of tick size, tick value, contract unit and months; secondary source (broker page) 2026-10-27
Questions
- What is the tick size of CL?
- The minimum price movement of WTI Crude Oil (Light Sweet) futures is 0.01, worth $10 per contract.
- How much is one point of CL worth?
- One full point is worth $1,000 per contract.
- Is CL cash-settled or physically delivered?
- CL is physically delivered.