Nymex To Amend Post-Close Trading Rules

The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc., will make several changes to the post-close trading sessions for crude oil, heating oil, unleaded gasoline, and natural gas beginning tomorrow (11 May, 2001).

The changes include:

• The sessions offered each day will be expanded from the first four months of trading to the first 12.
• The sessions on Mondays through Thursdays (except days preceeding a holiday) will begin at 3:25 PM and last two-minutes. Currently, the start time of the two minute session is determined on a daily basis.
• The sessions on Fridays and days preceeding a holiday will continue to start at 3:30 PM, but will be reduced to a five-minute session from a ten-minute session.

The trading range for these sessions will be expanded by adding the following ticks above and below the daily high and low (as long as there is no violation to the price limit rules):

• Crude Oil 20 ticks
• Heating Oil 50 ticks
• Unleaded Gasoline 50 ticks
• Natural Gas 50 ticks

There will be no restrictions for the Monday through Thursday sessions on placing and executing new orders. However, just as with the end-of-week session, only orders entered after regular trading ends may be executed.

Prices will also be disseminated for the Monday through Thursday sessions, as they are for the end-of-week session, without any impact on settlement prices.