Oil and gas
Oil & gas
BenchMark offers online trading on the most popular energies such as Brent oil and WTI oil, along with Natural Gas. Spot energies are based on futures contracts and are available in MetaTrader platform as CFDs. Competitive spreads and no commission trading are offered on all spot energies.
For short-term trading, spot energies are a popular choice, and as energy consumption increases across the globe, values increase too.
| Commissions/Fees | NO |
| Spread | from $0.04 in oil trading and $0.01 in gas trading |
| Min. trading volume | 10 barrels’ oil and 100 Btu gas (1 lot) |
| Margin requirements | from 1% |
| Automatic execution | YES |
| Hedging without margin | YES |
| Long/Short positions | YES |
| Stop/Limit restrictions | No restrictions |
| Experts | YES, without restrictions |
| Real-time quotes | YES |
Margin groups
BenchMark applies different margins and stop-out conditions according to the client's categorization as retail or professional and the amount of the equity on the client's trading account. You can change your margin group by sending a request trough the clients area. The conditions for each individual group are described in the table below:
| Margin group | Client's equity | Leverage | Stop-out level |
| Retail | Not applicable | 1:10 | 50% |
| Professionals group 1 | <10 000 €/$ | 1:100 | 30% |
| Professionals group 2 | 10 000 - 50 000 €/$ | 1:50 | 30% |
| Professionals group 3 | 50 000 - 200 000 €/$ | 1:25 | 30% |
| Professionals group 4 | >200 000 €/$ | 1:12.5 | 50% |
- Switching from one margin group to another is not automatic. When switching to a higher group (increased client's equity), the client is notified of the change via a platform message or by a phone call. If client has more than one account, the margin group is applied on the basis of the sum of client's equity in all client's accounts in MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms.
- BenchMark is not responsible for the stop-out of positions due to a transition to a higher group. It is client's duty to maintain a sufficient level of free margin to withstand the transition to a higher group.
- If client's equity becomes lower and this allows client's account to be moved to a lower group, the client must notify BenchMark that he/she is eligible to move to a lower group.
Oil and Gas trading conditions
This table shows the required margins, spreads and minimum volumes for each precious metal. Column Margin changes with the selected group. The values listed in the Average spread column are indicative and may vary depending on market conditions.
| Code | Minimum volume | Expiration | Margin Group 1 |
Margin Group 2 |
Margin Group 3 |
Margin Group 4 |
Margin Retail |
|
| USOIL | 10 barrels (1 lot) | Yes | 1% | 2% | 4% | 8% | 10% | |
| UKOIL | 10 barrels (1 lot) | Yes | 1% | 2% | 4% | 8% | 10% | |
| NGAS | 100 Btu (1 lot) | No | 1% | 2% | 4% | 8% | 10% | |
| WTI | 10 barrels (1 lot) | No | 1% | 2% | 4% | 8% | 10% | |
| Brent | 10 barrels (1 lot) | No | 1% | 2% | 4% | 8% | 10% |
The given margin requirements are related to the announced minimum volumes.
Trading hours in GMT
| Code | Trading hours | Interruption |
| USOIL | Sun 22:00 - Fri 21:00 | every day between 21:00 - 22:00 |
| UKOIL | Mon 00:00 - Fri 21:00 | every day between 21:00 - 00:00 |
| NGAS | Mon 22:00 - Fri 21:00 | every day between 21:00 - 02:00 |
| WTI | Sun 22:00 - Fri 21:00 | every day between 21:00 - 22:00 |
| Brent | Mon 00:05 - Fri 21:00 | every day between 21:00 - 00:05 |
Non-maturing instruments - WTI, Brent, NGAS
Non-maturing instruments on crude oil (WTI and Brent), as well as natural gas (NGAS) are suitable for traders who do not want to reopen (roll) their positions every month as a result of maturities.
The prices of these instruments are based on the weighted price between the current front futures contract and the futures contract for the following month. Therefore, there are usually differences in the prices of the non-maturing instruments offered and the prices of the respective futures.
Using this pricing method has the following advantages:
- Reduction in price volatility when the front contract is approaching maturity, as the maturing contract is often very poorly liquid in its last trading days;
- Ability to transfer positions from the current month to the next without having to close and reopen positions.
Swapping in non-maturing instruments
Non-maturing instruments on oil (WTI and Brent) as well as natural gas (NGAS) are subject to swapping (interest rate) when a position remains open for the next day. In determining the amount of the swap BenchMark takes into account the interest for the days the position is retained, as well as information on the amount of the mark-up in which the costs of transferring the position between the different futures contracts are distributed upon their expiration.
Verification of the daily applied swap rates
The applied daily swap rates for both long and short position in oil and gas can be checked on this link.
Note: Swap rates, which will be applied for the next day, are updated in the calculator after 16:00 GMT.
The rates are calculated at the beginning of the next business day (17:00 New York time). When opening and closing a position within the same business day, the position will not be swaped.
Maturing instruments - USOIL, UKOIL
Maturing instruments on crude oil (USOIL and UKOIL) are based on the price of futures contracts for these commodities and therefore, like the futures, they have a maturity date. USOIL and UKOIL are not subject to swapping.
Positions in these instruments must be closed before the maturity date. All open positions in USOIL and UKOIL are closed manually by a BenchMark employee in the last minutes of trading on the maturity date, at currently available prices.
The new contracts for USOIL start trading at 22:00 GMT and 00:00 GMT for UKOIL. After the start of trading, positions in the new contract can be reopened. If you want BenchMark to open your positions in the new contract after its activation, please contact us.
Exipiry Date
The expiration date for USOIL and UKOIL is available in the instrument's specificaions in MetaTrader 4 and 5.
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