Oil Trading Basics: WTI, Brent and What Moves Crude

Crude runs on a calendar. Most markets drift between scheduled events; oil is organised around them, a weekly inventory print, periodic OPEC+ decisions and a constant background of supply headlines. Learn the calendar and half the mystery of oil's behavior disappears.

WTI and Brent, the two benchmarks

WTI, West Texas Intermediate, is the US benchmark, priced for delivery at the pipeline hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, and traded as NYMEX futures. Brent is the international benchmark, drawn from North Sea grades, waterborne rather than landlocked, and traded on ICE. Most CFD platforms quote both, typically under names like USOIL and UKOIL.

The two move together but not identically. Brent prices global seaborne trade, so it reacts more to international supply disruption; WTI is more sensitive to US production and Cushing logistics. The gap between them, the Brent to WTI spread, widens and narrows with those regional pressures.

The contract arithmetic is worth knowing even if you only trade CFDs, because it frames the leverage involved: one standard WTI futures contract covers 1,000 barrels, so a $1.00 move is $1,000 per contract and the minimum $0.01 tick is worth $10. Micro contracts cover 100 barrels.

What actually moves oil

The unifying logic is that oil is a physical commodity with slow supply and fast news. Anything that changes the barrels produced, shipped or consumed changes the price, and the weekly inventory data is the scoreboard for that balance.

EIA Wednesdays

The Energy Information Administration's weekly report at 10:30am New York time each Wednesday is oil's recurring event day. In the seconds around the print, spreads widen sharply and the first move frequently whips both directions before the market settles on an interpretation, because the headline crude number arrives alongside gasoline, distillate and production figures that can contradict it.

The math deserves respect. A 30-cent whip, routine around the release, is $300 per standard contract in seconds. Traders handle it one of three ways: flat into the number, dramatically reduced size, or waiting for the settled move afterward. Holding normal size through the print with a tight stop is the one approach with no defence, because the stop simply fills late and badly. Getting caught in that loop weekly is one of the patterns described in why traders fail challenges.

Sessions, spread and slippage

Oil's liquid core is the US morning through early afternoon, roughly the old pit hours, when futures and physical desks are both fully active. European hours are respectable, particularly for Brent. Asian hours are the thin tail: spreads widen and headlines move price disproportionately.

Slippage respect belongs inside the risk calculation itself. If your stop is 25 cents wide on paper, assume worse fills around events and thin hours, and size so that a fill several cents beyond the stop is annoying rather than structural. On a funded account with a daily loss limit, that margin is what keeps one bad fill from becoming a rule breach; the trading rules page details how the limits are applied. FFUNDED accounts are simulated with virtual capital and pay out real money, and oil trades alongside FX, metals and indices on the instrument list.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between WTI and Brent?

WTI is the US benchmark crude, delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma and traded on NYMEX; Brent is the international waterborne benchmark from the North Sea, traded on ICE. They track each other closely, with a spread that reflects regional supply and logistics differences.

What time is the EIA oil inventory report?

Every Wednesday at 10:30am New York time, with the industry API figures landing the prior afternoon as a preview. The minutes around the EIA print are oil's most volatile regular window, with wide spreads and two-way whips.

How big is one oil contract?

A standard WTI futures contract covers 1,000 barrels, making a $1.00 price move worth $1,000 and the minimum $0.01 tick worth $10. Micro contracts cover 100 barrels, and CFD lot sizes vary by platform but follow the same barrels-times-move arithmetic.

When is the best time of day to trade oil?

The US morning through early afternoon offers the deepest liquidity and tightest spreads, with European hours a reasonable second, especially for Brent. Asian hours are thin, with wider spreads and outsized reactions to headlines, so most oil traders concentrate their risk in the US session.