Amid Record Demand, CME Group Announces Expansion of WTI Options

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Jun 27, 2023, 08:00 ET

CHICAGO, June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced plans to expand WTI Crude Oil options to include Monday and Wednesday expiries. Pending regulatory review, the new contracts will begin trading on July 31, 2023.

"Weekly WTI Crude Oil options are CME Group's fastest growing energy products, and we are pleased to provide market participants with flexibility to manage volatility through our expanded Monday and Wednesday expiries," said Peter Keavey, Global Head of Energy at CME Group. "Global oil markets increasingly revolve around WTI as the central price setter, and WTI is the only crude oil benchmark with robust, around the clock liquidity in Friday Weekly options, with 15% of on-screen volume occurring during non-U.S. trading hours and 30% of all trades originating from outside of the U.S."

Volatility in crude oil markets can be significantly impacted by market-moving events such as OPEC announcements, EIA reports, cargo loading schedules and geopolitics. With expirations now on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Weekly options allow for more precise risk management strategies to manage short-term price risk.

"Oil markets are dynamic and subject to geopolitical and supply events. Weekly WTI Crude Oil options allow market participants to purchase short-term protection against surprise announcements that can move markets quickly in any direction," continued Keavey. "With crude oil volatility here to stay, we are seeing market participants turn to these products in record numbers this year."

Average daily volume (ADV) in Weekly WTI Crude Oil options is approximately 8,900 contracts, up 69% year-over year. Average daily open interest (ADOI) is approximately 20,000 contracts, up 77% year-over-year. ADV in the week leading up to the OPEC+ meeting on June 4 reached 13,700 contracts, its highest ever.

Weekly WTI Crude Oil options are listed by and subject to the rules of NYMEX. For more information and for full contract specs, please visit here.

As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing.

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and, E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec and EBS are trademarks of BrokerTec Europe LTD and EBS Group LTD, respectively. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"). "S&P®", "S&P 500®", "SPY®", "SPX®", US 500 and The 500 are trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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SOURCE CME Group