Micro WTI Crude Oil Futures Surpass 50 Million Contracts Traded, Now Fifth Most Actively Traded Energy Futures Contract

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Jun 29, 2023, 09:00 ET

CHICAGO, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that trading in Micro WTI Crude Oil futures surpassed 50 million contracts on June 28, 2023 making it the fifth most actively traded energy futures contract at CME Group, behind only the benchmark WTI, Henry Hub, RBOB and NY Harbor contracts.

"WTI's position as the premier global crude oil benchmark has never been stronger, and we are pleased that all of our WTI contracts continue to generate significant interest globally," said Peter Keavey, Global Head of Energy and Environmental Products at CME Group. "Global investors of all sizes are increasingly looking for exposure to U.S. oil, with one third of all Micro WTI trades occurring during non-U.S. trading hours and nearly half of volume in May coming from outside of the U.S."

"We continue to see growing demand for Micro WTI Crude Oil futures and options," said Steve Sanders, EVP of Marketing and Product Development at Interactive Brokers. "Our clients appreciate the flexibility of CME Group's smaller-sized contracts, which provide more access to the transparency and liquidity of the global WTI benchmark with less upfront margin."

CME Group first launched Micro WTI futures in 2021, which became the most successful commodities product launch in the company's history. CME Group introduced options on Micro WTI futures last year, which continue to grow alongside futures.

Average daily volume (ADV) year-to-date for Micro WTI futures is over 95,000 contracts, while average daily open interest (ADOI) is approximately 31,000 contracts, up 99% from last year.
Over 250 firms and approximately 109,000 unique individual traders have traded Micro WTI futures since launch, with participation from 165 unique countries and regions.
ADV for options on Micro WTI futures is over 1,200 contracts, while current open interest is approximately 7,400 contracts, up 39% from the start of 2023. 30% of options volume is traded during non-U.S. hours.
Over 4,800 unique traders from 36 different firms have traded Micro WTI options since launch.

Micro WTI Crude Oil futures and options are listed by and subject to the rules of NYMEX. For more information, please visit http://cmegroup.com/micro-wti.

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.

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