OIL Trading with Easy-Forex®
Easy-Forex® offers oil Day Trading just as it already does with Gold and Silver Trading. However, unlike these commodities, oil has some peculiarities as it trades predominantly over the exchanges and there is not a liquid continuous spot market.
Oil trading at Easy-Forex® is performed in the same way as Foreign Currencies Trading. It is OTC (Over the Counter) trading which means that the transaction is performed directly between the two parties involved - the buyer and the seller. There is no third party involved, like in an exchange market.
The acronym for oil is OIL. It is measured in barrels but as it is cash settled (non-delivery trading) the physical purchase or sale of the commodity is not actually performed.
Easy-Forex® bases its contract on the US standard for OIL trading, namely the WTI (West Texas Intermediary). Also known as Texas Light Sweet, WTI is a type of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing and the underlying commodity of the New York Mercantile Exchange's (NYMEX) oil futures contracts.
The OIL trader will open, modify and close deals on the Easy-Forex® platform in the same way they do with a currency day trade.
Quote convention: OIL will be quoted with OIL as the base - Example OIL/USD = 118.00 USD per barrel
Expiration date: Oil trading can only be renewed up to the close of business on the fourth US business day prior to the 25th calendar day of the month, preceding the contract month. If the 25th day is a non-business day, trading shall cease on the fourth business day prior to the business day preceding the 25th calendar day.
Trading hours: 01.30 London time until 22:30 London time, Monday to Friday. Outside these hours no opening or closing of deals will be allowed. Go to
trading hours to see the hours of trade for other currencies and commodities.
Availabiltiy: Oil trading is not available in USA and some other regions.
Unlike Day trading deals in currencies, all open OIL day trades expire on a specific date each month regardless of the opening time and date of the deal. The method of calculating the expiry date for each month is explained above. At 12:00 GMT on the expiration day all oil deals will close and any profit and loss will be credited or debited to your account.
For example, if the expiration of the current contract is February 16th, then any deal opened prior to that date will be automatically closed at 12:00 GMT on February 16th regardless if it was opened on February 1st, or February 2nd etc… and regardless if it was in profit or loss.
Rollover of Oil deals to the new contract
Easy Forex does not rollover clients’ deals to the new contract, unless notified beforehand. The client should directly contact his dealer or ASM one working day before expiry of deal for renewal. Client should note that in the case of renewals, Easy Forex will not carry the profit or loss to the new deal.
If instructed to, as soon as the old deal is automatically closed, a dealer will open a new deal expiring in the new month that follows the expired deal with the same amount and type of the closed deal. The remaining margin on the expired deal will be placed on the new one, unless the client instructs the dealer otherwise. The opening rate of the new deal will be done at the new month’s rate (as at 12:00 GMT).
For example: at expiry time 12:00 GMT the old contract closing price was at USD35.50 per barrel and the new contract price is trading at $40.50. At expiry, the old deal will be closed automatically at $35.50. Any profit or loss will be reflected in the margin and thus in the free balance. If instructed, the dealer will open a new deal at a price of $40.50 (the price of the new contract at 12:00 GMT), and place an amount equal to the remaining margin on the old deal, unless instructed otherwise.
In order to inquire about expiry date of current contract and difference in prices between the two contracts, please contact your dealer.