Trade oil CFDs with City Index

An oil benchmark is a crude oil market that acts as a reference point for the prices of oil drilled around the world. The two best-known oil benchmarks are US Crude (otherwise known as WTI) or UK Crude (known as Brent Crude).

Beyond these two headline markets, there are dozens of oil benchmarks that are used around the world. They help facilitate oil trading by acting as a guideline for the different varieties and grades of oil that are produced.

Different oil benchmarks will trade at different prices, according to the lightness and sweetness of the oil they represent. They will, however, tend to move in parallel – so if Brent Crude is moving up, chances are WTI will be up too.

Learn more about how to trade oil.

The best way to trade oil all depends on your individual goals, style and strategy. There are numerous ways to take your position on oil prices, and each brings its own unique benefits and drawbacks.

Most global oil trading takes place on futures markets. These financial derivatives facilitate the buying and selling of oil using contracts in which you trade oil at a set price on a set future date. 

While retail traders can participate in the oil futures market, many choose to trade on futures prices using CFDs instead. These enable you to take a position on oil markets without ever owning the underlying asset itself.

Learn more about how CFDs work.

The margin requirement for City Index’s oil markets – including US Crude and UK Crude – is 10%. That means you’ll need 10% of your position’s total value in your account in order to open a trade.

Say, for example, that you want to buy three UK Crude CFDs at $8653. Your total position is worth (8653 * 3) $25,959, meaning you’ll need $2595.9 in your account as margin. The City Index will automatically convert that figure into your base currency and display it on the deal ticket, so you’ll always know how much you need to make a trade.

You can find margin requirements for every market we offer in the City Index platform, which you can access with a free demo account.