According to the MarketWatch website, the average 2013 price of crude futures oil is close to $100 a barrel. Prices for the August futures for Brent crude rose 71 cents.
Futures tickers are a little different from stocks. Each futures market has a ticker symbol that is followed by symbols for the contract month and the year. For example, crude oil futures have a ticker symbol - CL. The complete ticker symbol for December 2007 Crude Oil Futures would be - CLZ7. The "CL" stands for the underlying futures contract. The "Z" stands for a December delivery month. (F=Jan, G=Feb, H=Mar, J=Apr, K=May, M=June, N=July, Q=Aug, U=Sep, V=Oct, X=Nov, Z=Dec) The "7" stands for the year - 2007. This is the standard formula for futures ticker symbols. Some quote services are a little different.
Brent crude oil futures are stocks whose price flactuates every now and then. This is affected by various factors in the market but mostly that of demand and supply.
The best place to check crude oil futures is CNN commodities section. This section allows viewers to get the latest prices for oil, gold, silver, copper, and more.
To start trading in crude oil futures, the fist thing one should do is read up on the futures market and understand how it operates. A familiarity with the oil industry and the environmental and economic factors that affect its profitability is also helpful. Or, one can select a broker who is an expert in the commodities futures market and has experience in crude oil trading.
The ticker symbol for oil is NYSE crude oil in NYM is CL
CL
The symbol for crude oil is CL in U. S. dollar and cents per barrel. It is traded on the New York mercantile exchange.
10%
Your current inventory of crude oil is worth $12 million. You wish to hedge its downside risk. With a naïve hedge, how many FUTURES CONTRACTS should be sold if f = $71.25 and S = $83? The size of one crude oil futures contract is 1,000 barrels
The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) began to trade heating oil futures in 1978. The exchange later introduced crude oil, gasoline, and natural gas futures. Airlines, shipping companies, public transportation authorities, home-heating-oil delivery services, and major multinational oil and gas companies have all sought to hedge their price risk using these futures contracts. In 1990 the NYMEX traded more than thirty-five million energy futures and option contracts. www.econlib.orglibraryEncFuturesandOptionsMarkets.html
The price of crude oil trading futures is dependent on many factors, such as OPEC trading quotas, any changes to refinery capacity, financial markets and even weather conditions in oil producing areas. While oil futures have been on a slight downward trend, there is no guarantee they will remain that way as an active hurricane season forecast for the US and Gulf of Mexico coincides with uncertainty in the Middle East.