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Commodity trading means speculating on the price of oil, gold, silver, natural gas and other commodities, almost always through exchange-traded futures or CFDs, without buying or storing the physical product. For a retail trader in 2026, the most precise way to do it is with CME micros such as MCL (crude oil) and MGC (gold), which are worth $1 per tick. Prices move mainly on weekly EIA inventory data, OPEC+ decisions, the US dollar and US interest rates. Here you’ll find verified contract specs, trading hours across time zones and a worked risk example with real numbers.
30-second summary
- Crude oil: CL (1,000 barrels) is worth $10 per tick; MCL (100 barrels), $1.
- Gold: GC (100 ounces) is worth $10 per $0.10 tick; MGC (10 ounces), $1.
- Hours: Sunday 6:00 p.m. to Friday 5:00 p.m. New York time, with a daily break from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
- Key data: EIA crude inventories on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. ET; natural gas storage on Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. ET.
- Futures or CFDs: futures have standard exchange sizes and costs; CFDs let you fine-tune volume and, on EmergeFX, hold positions overnight.
What commodity trading is and how it works
Commodities fall into energy (crude oil, natural gas), metals (gold, silver, copper) and agriculture (soybeans, corn, wheat). For day trading, liquidity is concentrated in WTI crude and gold.
There are two ways to trade them short term:
- Exchange-traded futures: standardized contracts on NYMEX and COMEX (both part of CME Group), with a single price for every participant. If the concept is new to you, read what futures contracts are and how they work first.
- CFDs: a contract with a provider that tracks the asset’s price, with adjustable volume and no expiry visible to the trader.
Crude oil and gold futures: CME contract specs
| Symbol | Asset | Size | Minimum tick | Tick value | If price rises $1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | WTI crude oil (NYMEX) | 1,000 barrels | $0.01 per barrel | $10 | $1,000 |
| MCL | Micro WTI crude oil (NYMEX) | 100 barrels | $0.01 per barrel | $1 | $100 |
| GC | Gold (COMEX) | 100 troy ounces | $0.10 per ounce | $10 | $100 |
| MGC | Micro gold (COMEX) | 10 troy ounces | $0.10 per ounce | $1 | $10 |
| SI | Silver (COMEX) | 5,000 troy ounces | $0.005 per ounce | $25 | $5,000 |
| NG | Henry Hub natural gas (NYMEX) | 10,000 MMBtu | $0.001 per MMBtu | $10 | $10,000 |
The last column explains why silver and natural gas aren’t for beginners: a $0.10 move in natural gas is $1,000 per contract.
Expiries and rolling contracts
CL expires every month: it stops trading three business days before the 25th of the month prior to delivery. Volume moves to the next contract a few days earlier; in gold, liquidity also rotates between months. Always check which contract month you’re trading.
Commodity trading hours
Crude oil, gold, silver and natural gas trade on CME Globex from Sunday 6:00 p.m. to Friday 5:00 p.m. New York time, with a daily break from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. The table uses US standard (winter) time, in effect from November 1, 2026 to March 14, 2027.
| Event | New York (ET) | London (UTC) | Frankfurt (CET) | India (IST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly open (Sunday) | 18:00 | 23:00 | 00:00 (Monday) | 4:30 (Monday) |
| Daily break | 17:00–18:00 | 22:00–23:00 | 23:00–00:00 | 3:30–4:30 |
| US economic data (CPI, jobs) | 8:30 | 13:30 | 14:30 | 19:00 |
| New York Stock Exchange open | 9:30 | 14:30 | 15:30 | 20:00 |
| EIA crude inventories (Wednesday) | 10:30 | 15:30 | 16:30 | 21:00 |
| EIA natural gas storage (Thursday) | 10:30 | 15:30 | 16:30 | 21:00 |
| CFTC COT report (Friday) | 15:30 | 20:30 | 21:30 | 2:00 (Saturday) |
The highest-volume hours in crude and gold line up with the New York morning. For session-by-session detail, see futures market hours.
What moves oil and gold prices
Crude oil: inventories, OPEC+ and geopolitics
- Weekly EIA inventories: the Weekly Petroleum Status Report comes out on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. ET. A bigger-than-expected inventory build tends to push prices lower, and a bigger draw pushes them higher. Holidays shift it: the report for the week ending November 6, 2026 comes out on Thursday, November 12 at 12:00 p.m. ET because of Veterans Day.
- OPEC+: its production decisions set supply. On November 1, 2026, seven core members kept their December targets unchanged, and all 21 members meet on November 29 to set 2027 quotas.
- Geopolitics: the war with Iran has disrupted Gulf exports for months; Brent closed near $118 a barrel on October 30, 2026, its highest level since April.
- Demand: weak activity data from the US or China tends to weigh on prices.
Gold: real rates, the dollar and the Federal Reserve
Gold pays no interest, so it competes with bonds: when US real rates rise or the dollar strengthens, it tends to fall, and vice versa. That’s why it reacts strongly to the 8:30 a.m. ET inflation and jobs data and to Federal Reserve statements. It also rallies during geopolitical stress, when it acts as a safe haven. The relationship isn’t fixed: sometimes gold and the dollar rise together.
Silver and natural gas
Silver follows gold, but with wider swings because of its industrial use. Natural gas responds to US weather and the Thursday storage report, and it’s one of the most volatile contracts on CME. For both, the rules for trading high-impact news apply even more strictly.
How to trade commodities step by step
- Pick one asset to start: MCL or MGC.
- Mark the week’s calendar: Wednesday’s EIA report, inflation and jobs data, OPEC+ and Federal Reserve meetings.
- Measure volatility: calculate the average true range (ATR) of the last 14 days and convert it to dollars with the tick value. A stop tighter than the asset’s normal noise gets hit for no reason.
- Set your dollar risk before your size: size = maximum risk ÷ (stop in ticks × tick value).
- Log every trade and check whether your edge covers costs. If you’re not sure you have one, run the numbers in is futures trading profitable.
Risk example with MCL and MGC on an Emerge account
MCL on the MICRO futures account
The MICRO account has a $350 daily loss limit, an $800 drawdown and a maximum of 5 micros. Say you decide to risk no more than $80 per trade, 10% of the drawdown.
- Technical stop: $0.25 per barrel = 25 ticks × $1 = $25 per contract.
- Size: $80 ÷ $25 = 3.2, so 3 MCL ($75 of risk).
- EIA Wednesday: if the stop fills with 5 ticks of slippage, the loss rises to $90. With stops this tight, the prudent move is to be flat at 10:30 a.m. ET or cut to 1 or 2 contracts.
- Why not CL: one CL equals 10 MCL. The same stop would cost $250 per contract and exceed the account’s 5-micro limit.
MGC on the 25K futures account
The 25K account has a $600 daily loss limit, a $1,500 drawdown and up to 30 micros. With gold at high levels, a $15-per-ounce stop is reasonable for day trading:
- Stop: $15 = 150 ticks × $1 = $150 per MGC, 10% of the drawdown and 25% of the daily limit.
- The same stop on GC: $1,500, the entire drawdown on a single trade.
- Rule of thumb: four full stops use up the daily limit; set a maximum number of trades in advance.
Remember that on the Futures Evaluation you can’t hold positions past the end of the session or over the weekend, and the Operational Consistency and Position Sizing Rule stops you from jumping from micros to minis without a transition.
Commodities via futures or CFDs: the differences
| Feature | Futures (CME) | CFDs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Single exchange price | The provider’s, based on the underlying |
| Size | Fixed: MCL 100 barrels, MGC 10 ounces | Adjustable in lots; lot size varies by symbol |
| Costs | Commission and fees per contract | Spread and, depending on the case, commission and an overnight holding cost |
| Expiry | Monthly on CL; you have to roll | Handled by the provider |
| Volume data | Actual exchange volume | Provider volume (ticks) |
| At Emerge Profit | Futures accounts on Tradovate, NinjaTrader and TradingView | EmergeFX on cTrader and DXtrade |
As a regulatory reference, in the European Union the maximum leverage for retail CFD clients is 20:1 on gold and 10:1 on other commodities, under ESMA’s measures. More margin allows bigger positions, not less risk. The full cross-market comparison is in forex vs futures.
Commodity trading with Emerge Profit
At Emerge Profit you can trade commodities on simulated trading accounts in two ways, depending on your style:
- Futures Evaluation (from $60): contracts like MCL and MGC on Tradovate, NinjaTrader or TradingView, with EOD drawdown, 5 minimum days and no activation fee. Built for day trading; positions are closed before the end of each session.
- Futures Instant Funding (from $130): no evaluation, news trading allowed and no swing trading.
- EmergeFX Evaluation (from $68): forex, indices and commodities on cTrader or DXtrade, 1-Step (10% target, 3% daily drawdown and 6% maximum) or 2-Step (8% and 5%, with 5% daily drawdown and 10% maximum). Static drawdown and weekend holding allowed, and you can hold positions overnight.
- EmergeFX Instant Funding (from $120): static drawdown, 1:100 equivalent margin and swing trading allowed.
If your gold or oil idea needs several days, EmergeFX is the better fit; if you trade the reaction to the EIA report or an 8:30 a.m. release, futures give you exchange price and volume. To compare with other assets, see the most traded assets at prop firms and our guide to index trading.
Commodity trading: FAQ
What is the best commodity to start trading?
Gold through MGC is usually the most orderly option: it’s liquid, worth $1 per tick and reacts to data scheduled in advance. MCL is just as accessible, but more violent on EIA Wednesdays.
How much is a tick worth in crude oil futures?
The minimum tick is $0.01 per barrel. On CL (1,000 barrels) that’s $10 per contract, and on MCL (100 barrels), $1.
What time is the EIA crude oil inventory report released?
The EIA publishes the Weekly Petroleum Status Report on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. New York time, which is 15:30 UTC while the US is on standard time. It moves in holiday weeks.
Is it better to trade commodities with futures or CFDs?
Futures give you exchange price and volume with transparent costs; CFDs let you size more precisely and don’t require rolling contracts. For day trading, futures usually make more sense; for multi-day trades, CFDs.
Can you trade oil and gold on a funded account?
Yes. At Emerge Profit you can do it with micro futures like MCL and MGC or as CFDs on EmergeFX, always in simulated trading and within each account’s daily loss limit and drawdown.
Sources
- CME Group – NYMEX Rulebook, Chapter 200: Light Sweet Crude Oil Futures (size, tick and expiry; accessed November 2026).
- CME Group – Micro WTI Crude Oil Futures and MetroTrade – MCL Contract Specifications (accessed November 2026).
- CME Group – COMEX Rulebook, Chapter 113: Gold Futures and Chapter 112: Silver Futures (accessed November 2026).
- MetroTrade – MGC Contract Specifications and NG Contract Specifications (size, tick and Globex hours; accessed November 2026).
- EIA – Weekly Petroleum Status Report: Release Schedule and Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report: Release Schedule (accessed November 2026).
- CFTC – Commitments of Traders (released Fridays at 3:30 p.m. ET; accessed November 2026).
- GV Wire / Reuters – OPEC+ keeps December oil output targets steady ahead of tougher call for 2027, November 1, 2026 (accessed November 2026).
- ESMA – ESMA agrees to prohibit binary options and restrict CFDs to protect retail investors, March 27, 2018 (accessed November 2026).
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