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Market participants on Friday, February 3, traded 38,633 ICE WTI Crude futures contracts on ICE Futures, the regulated futures subsidiary based in London. Open interest at the close of business on February 3 stood at 27,500 contracts.
“The successful launch of the ICE WTI Crude futures contract is a clear indication of why we are so intent on both listening and responding to energy market participants,” said David Peniket, President of ICE Futures. “A broad range of customers encouraged ICE Futures to introduce this electronic contract following the successful transition of Brent to screen-based trading. Traders can now enjoy the execution and capital efficiencies of having Brent and WTI crude contracts on one electronic platform and at one clearinghouse.”
“It was especially gratifying to see such deep, liquid markets in the ICE WTI contract on its first day of trading,” said David Goone, ICE’s Senior Vice President of Business Development. “We are pleased to welcome market participants who believe our electronically traded energy contracts can assist in their risk management and trading strategies.”
The addition of WTI crude futures to the exchange’s suite of energy futures and options brings the world’s two most significant crude oil benchmarks together on ICE’s widely distributed trading platform.
The ICE WTI Crude futures contract trades electronically 21 hours a day, five days a week in the 37 jurisdictions globally where ICE Futures screens have been approved, including the U.S., the U.K., and throughout continental Europe and Asia. The ICE WTI Crude futures contract trades continuously from 1:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. local London time, or from 8:00 p.m. through 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Each crude futures contract is sized at 1,000 barrels, with the contract price quoted in U.S. dollars and cents per barrel. The minimum price fluctuation is one cent per barrel, equivalent to a tick value of $10.00. A fee waiver on execution is in place for the ICE WTI Crude futures contract from launch through March 31, 2006. Thereafter, a contract execution fee of $0.70 per side will be in effect.
