CL Tick Size, Tick Value, and Full Crude Oil Contract Specs

Before you place a trade in crude oil futures, you need to know exactly what each tick is worth and how the contract is structured. CL is a large, volatile contract. Not understanding the specs before you size a position is how traders get hurt fast.

This page covers the hard numbers: tick size, tick value, contract size, margin, settlement, and what all of it means when real money is on the line. For a broader introduction to CL and what drives price, start with what crude oil futures are.

Tick Size and Tick Value

The minimum price increment in CL is $0.01 per barrel. Since one contract represents 1,000 barrels, each tick is worth exactly $10.00.

Metric	Value
Tick size	$0.01 per barrel
Tick value	$10.00 per contract
Contract size	1,000 barrels
One dollar move in price	$1,000 per contract

That math is simple but the implications aren't. A market that moves with a wide daily range means your tick count exposure adds up fast. A move that looks modest on a price chart can represent hundreds of ticks and a significant dollar swing per contract.

How Dollar Moves Translate to Account P&L

Because each full dollar of price movement equals $1,000 per contract, CL requires you to think in dollar-per-barrel terms, not just chart levels. When crude oil makes a substantial intraday move, that translates directly into meaningful account swings even on a single contract.

Traders coming from smaller contracts like MES or MNQ often underestimate this. CL is not a starter contract. The size is real and the market moves like it knows that.

Full Contract Specifications

Spec	Detail
Exchange	NYMEX (CME Group)
Ticker symbol	CL
Underlying	West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil
Contract size	1,000 barrels
Price quotation	U.S. dollars and cents per barrel
Tick size	$0.01 per barrel
Tick value	$10.00
Settlement type	Physical delivery
Delivery point	Cushing, Oklahoma
Contract months	All 12 calendar months
Trading hours	Sunday–Friday, nearly 24 hours (CME Globex)

Margin: What Your Broker Requires

CL margin requirements vary by broker and change over time based on exchange minimums and volatility conditions. There are two tiers to understand:

• Exchange margin (overnight margin) — the full margin requirement set by CME. This is what you need to hold a position past the end of the trading day.
• Day trade margin — a reduced intraday margin offered by many retail and prop brokers, sometimes significantly lower than exchange margin. This goes away at the session close.

Day trade margin makes CL accessible intraday on smaller accounts, but it also means the broker can force-close your position if you hold past their cutoff time. Know your broker's specific rules before you assume what your margin actually is.

Margin requirements for CL are higher than most retail futures traders are used to. This is not a contract to underestimate from a capital standpoint.

Physical Settlement and Delivery Risk

CL settles via physical delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma. This is not a cash-settled contract. If you hold a long position into expiration, you are technically on the hook to take delivery of 1,000 barrels of crude oil.

No retail or prop trader wants that. Most brokers will force-close positions well before first notice day to prevent delivery obligation from becoming a real problem. But you need to know when that cutoff is for your specific broker and not assume they'll handle it without communication.

The practical rule: don't hold CL into expiration. Roll early or close the position. If you're unsure how the roll works and what the curve structure looks like when you do it, that's covered in the calendar spreads article.

Contract Months and Front Month Liquidity

CL lists contracts for all 12 calendar months. The front month carries the overwhelming majority of daily volume and is what most traders are referring to when they say they're trading CL.

As expiration approaches, volume migrates to the next contract month. The front month goes thin fast in the final days before expiration. Trading a thinning front month means wider spreads, worse fills, and choppier price action — all of which hit you through slippage. How slippage behaves in CL and how to limit it is covered in the CL slippage article.

Micro Crude Oil Futures (MCL)

CME also lists Micro WTI Crude Oil futures under the ticker MCL. One MCL contract represents 100 barrels — one tenth the size of CL. The tick value on MCL is $1.00 per tick rather than $10.00.

MCL is useful for sizing down, practicing with real market structure, or testing a CL approach without full contract exposure. It tracks the same WTI crude oil market at one tenth the size of CL, but it is financially settled and expires one day before the corresponding standard CL contract.

How the Specs Connect to Real Trading Decisions

Understanding CL specs isn't an academic exercise. Every decision you make about stop placement, position size, and risk per trade depends on knowing what each tick costs you. A stop that's 20 ticks wide is a $200 risk per contract. A stop that's 100 ticks wide is $1,000 per contract. CL can cover that distance in a single news-driven move without pausing.

Stop placement in CL depends on understanding market structure, not arbitrary dollar amounts.