CME Group Withdraws Filing for 24/7 10-Barrel WTI Crude Oil Futures

CME Group said in an October 2, 2026 statement that it is suspending plans to launch its 10-Barrel WTI Crude Oil futures contract and is withdrawing its filing to launch the product, which the exchange had designed as the first energy contract available for trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The decision follows a July 9, 2026 order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that stayed the contract’s listing and opened a proceeding into whether the self-certification of the product by the New York Mercantile Exchange was false.

In the statement, CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Duffy said the company created the contract to provide a transparent, regulated alternative to the 24/7 oil contracts that other venues have introduced. He characterized those products as onshore prediction markets or offshore perpetuals that are illegal for U.S. participants but may be accessed via virtual private networks, and said they trade around the clock primarily for retail participants. CME had hoped, he said, to provide a safer, more transparent alternative within U.S. jurisdiction and CFTC oversight.

Duffy said that based on extensive conversations with industry participants, the company determined that key constituents were concerned that introducing 24/7 trading in energy without further due diligence could create unintended consequences, possibly introducing additional risk in the marketplace. “Therefore, we are withdrawing our filing to launch this product at this time,” he said. Duffy added that CME hopes the CFTC will address the inequity, reestablish the level playing field, and ensure that all derivatives products meet the standards the law requires in compliance with the core principles of the Commodity Exchange Act.

The June Launch Plan and Contract Design

CME Group first announced the contract on June 11, 2026, when it said it would offer 24/7 trading for new, smaller-sized crude oil and gold contracts, pending regulatory review. The oil contract, at 10 barrels, was to be one-tenth the size of the exchange’s Micro WTI Crude Oil futures and was scheduled to launch on August 30, 2026. The same announcement set 24/7 trading for the company’s existing 1-Ounce Gold futures to begin on July 24, 2026.

Derek Sammann, CME Group Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Commodities Markets, said in the June announcement that traders were increasingly looking to diversify their portfolios across commodity markets in the face of geopolitical uncertainty, and that the new WTI and gold futures were regulated products that were right-sized and available around the clock so that traders could manage exposure whenever news breaks.

According to the contract’s product page, 10-Barrel WTI Crude Oil (TCL) futures are financially settled contracts at 1/100 the size of the benchmark WTI Crude Oil (CL) futures and one-tenth the size of Micro WTI Crude Oil (MCL) futures. The contract was to be cash-settled and listed on, and subject to the rules of, NYMEX. Under the planned schedule, trading would run continuously except for a two-minute maintenance window from 4:00 p.m. to 4:02 p.m. Central Time on Monday through Friday and a two-hour maintenance window on Saturday from 2:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. Central. Trades executed over weekends or exchange holidays, from Friday evening through Sunday evening, were to carry the trade date of the following business day, with clearing, settlement and regulatory reporting processed on that day as well.

In the June announcement, CME reported that WTI Crude Oil options reached a record average daily volume of 320,000 contracts in the first quarter of 2026, and that Micro WTI Crude Oil futures average daily volume reached 272,000 contracts in May, a 317% increase compared with May 2025.

CFTC Stay and Proceedings

On July 8, 2026, NYMEX, a designated contract market whose parent company is CME Group, filed a self-certification, Submission No. 26-186, under Section 5c(c)(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission Regulation 40.2 to list the contract. Unlike NYMEX’s other crude oil futures contracts, the product was designed to trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except for limited maintenance windows. Absent Commission action, it could have been listed and available for trading one business day after the Commission received the submission.

On July 9, 2026, the Commission stayed the listing, effective immediately, under 17 C.F.R. 40.2(c). Its order instituting proceedings took three actions: it opened a proceeding to determine whether NYMEX’s certification that the contract complies with the Act was false; it requested, under Section 8a(7) of the Act, that NYMEX discontinue continuous trading and limit the contract to the hours applicable to its comparable crude oil futures; and it stayed the listing during the pendency of those proceedings. The order stated that it made no final determination as to whether the contract complies with the Act and that the Commission reserved all options, including withdrawing the stay or permitting the contract to be listed with amended terms.

Specifically, the Commission asked NYMEX to change the contract’s trading and clearing hours from the planned 24/7 schedule, with its Saturday and weekday maintenance windows, to CME Globex hours of Sunday through Friday, 5:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Central Time, with a 60-minute break each day beginning at 4:00 p.m. Central. NYMEX was directed to file a written answer by July 24, 2026 demonstrating why its certification should not be found to be false, and to advise the Commission in writing by the same date whether it would make the requested change.

The order noted that the contract would cash-settle directly against the final settlement price of NYMEX’s primary Light Sweet Crude Oil Futures contract, and it stated that, on the record before it, NYMEX’s submission did not adequately demonstrate how the contract satisfies the Act and the Commission’s regulations.

The order pointed to unresolved questions the Commission had posed in a request for comment on extending standard futures contracts to 24/7 trading, issued June 22, 2026 and published at 91 FR 38,334 on June 25, 2026, with a comment period closing July 27, 2026. Those questions included whether prices formed overnight, on weekends and on holidays are sufficiently liquid and reliable to resist manipulation when the underlying physical crude market is assessed only during defined windows; how weekend and off-hours price formation affects margin, liquidation and leveraged participants; whether a clearing organization can call and collect margin and effect settlement at times when Fedwire, CHIPS and the bank payment infrastructure on which clearing depends do not operate; and whether a smaller, continuously traded, retail-oriented contract could influence the larger benchmark during hours when the benchmark itself is closed. The order said these questions bear on Core Principle 3, which permits a contract market to list only contracts that are not readily susceptible to manipulation, and Core Principle 4, which requires the capacity to prevent manipulation, price distortion and disruption of the cash-settlement process through market surveillance. It also noted that the Commission’s earlier approval of a perpetual contract referencing a digital commodity had rested substantially on the continuous, broadly distributed trading of the underlying spot market, and that physically delivered commodities present materially different considerations.

CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said in the July 9 release that the Commission does not take a one-size-fits-all approach to 24/7 trading and is examining whether 24/7 trading of futures contracts on various asset classes is consistent with statutory core principles. “CME’s decision to disregard the Commission’s effort to undertake a reasoned analysis of the critical issues at stake is wholly inappropriate and necessitates Commission action to stay the certification,” Selig said. The release said CME made simultaneous but separate filings under Regulations 40.2 and 40.3, and that the Commission would conduct a thorough review of the product filings under its 40.3 authorities.