January's winter weather brought volatility to the Natural Gas market, spiking Henry Hub Natural Gas (LN) options open interest (OI) to its highest level in nearly 10 years at over 4M contracts.

Traders are turning to the screen to access second-to-none liquidity and execute options strategies. This year, Henry Hub Natural Gas options are trading 237K contracts daily, up 101% year-over-year, with Q1 on-screen volume accounting for 64% of total daily volume, the highest since 2018.

On March 1, the 174K cubic meters vessel size LNG Freight Route U.S. Gulf to Continent (Baltic) futures, Globex code BG2, traded for the first time. Our suite of Freight futures and options are designed to meet the needs of the industry for secure and efficient clearing of Freight Forward Agreement transactions.

WTI Crude Oil Weekly options are one of the fastest growing Energy products at CME Group. Volume continues to set new records with 18K contracts trading daily and participation up 10% from 2023.

WTI Weekly options have Monday, Wednesday and Friday expirations providing precision when hedging OPEC+ meetings, weekly EIA Petroleum Status Reports, cargo loading windows and weekend risk. This year, time-spread strategies across Monday, Wednesday and Friday Weekly options have been one of the fastest growing trade types.

CME Direct, the leading trading platform for Energy options volume, offers 24-hour streaming liquidity for Crude Oil and Natural Gas monthly and weekly options.

Execute covered, multi-leg strategies with a consolidated view of all trades, RFQs, crosses, and blocks. Plus, see all listed options for a futures contract.

Explore the robust features that empower traders to optimize their strategies efficiently.

Argus-based U.S. Gulf Coast Crude Oil futures offer forward curve liquidity for the key crude oil grades in liquid trading hubs. WTI Houston (HTT) and WTI Midland (WTT) futures are paper instruments offering the best liquidity for WTI-Midland grade crude oil.

Combined open interest (OI) in WTI Houston (HTT) and WTI Midland (WTT) futures has set a new record at over 580K contracts in March, with average Q1 2024 OI up 50% from last year. You can access the liquidity of these contracts on CME Direct, with the ability to monitor intraday physical Crude markets alongside futures prices with the Argus Crude Market Ticker.

Discover the opportunities and risk management solutions of bioenergy within our suite of Sustainable Solutions. These renewable energy sources are derived from organic materials used to produce transportation fuels, heat, electricity and more.

Join us in our upcoming Commodities Trading Challenge and compete against other traders for a chance to win up to $2,500. This is your opportunity to test-drive your trading strategies with our suite of Commodity futures in a simulated environment.

Additionally, once the Challenge starts, you'll gain access to exclusive daily educational videos packed with valuable insights. 

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