USOil in one paragraph
USOil is the WTI light sweet crude oil CFD, priced against the West Texas Intermediate benchmark delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma. The standard NYMEX contract represents 1,000 barrels of physical crude, and at LHFX one standard lot of USOil mirrors that 1,000-barrel exposure. The price you see (for example 75.40) is US dollars per barrel. WTI trades close to 24 hours a day, five days a week, and the single most reliable scheduled volatility event is the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report at Wednesday 10:30 AM ET.
Why USOil? The ticker for WTI light sweet crude
USOil is the broker symbol for West Texas Intermediate, the North American crude oil grade that sets the price for most US production. WTI is light (low density, API gravity around 39.6) and sweet (sulphur content below 0.42%), which makes it cheap to refine into gasoline and diesel. Those physical specifications are written into the NYMEX contract that the USOil CFD references.
The contract settles at Cushing, Oklahoma. Cushing is a small town that sits on top of a 90 million-barrel storage hub where multiple US pipelines meet. When traders talk about WTI inventory, they mean barrels physically held in those Cushing tanks. The Cushing delivery point is the reason WTI prices reflect US mid-continent supply and demand rather than the global seaborne market that Brent (UKOil) tracks.
The other benchmark, Brent (UKOil), prices light sweet crude delivered to the North Sea and is the reference for roughly two-thirds of internationally traded crude. WTI and Brent normally move together, but the WTI minus Brent spread widens whenever US shale production grows faster than Gulf Coast export capacity. That spread is a tradable variable in its own right and is the cleanest single read on US-versus-global supply balance.
Quick fact. USOil is a CFD on the WTI cash price. You never take delivery in Cushing, never roll a futures contract, and never need to arrange physical storage. Settlement is in US dollars, in your trading account.
How USOil pricing works
The USOil quote is the number of US dollars per one barrel of WTI crude. One barrel is 42 US gallons (about 159 litres). A quote of 75.40 means one barrel of WTI costs 75 dollars and 40 cents at that moment, and a move from 75.40 to 75.41 is a one-cent change per barrel.
The NYMEX WTI futures contract that USOil references represents 1,000 barrels of physical crude. At LHFX, one standard lot of USOil mirrors that same 1,000-barrel unit, so a one-dollar move per barrel is worth $1,000 per standard lot. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots, which is 10 barrels of exposure and roughly $7.54 per dollar of price movement at a 75.40 WTI price.
Tick size on USOil is 0.01 (one US cent per barrel). On a standard lot that is $10 per tick. On a typical 2 to 4% daily WTI range, a standard lot moves $1,500 to $3,000 of unrealised profit or loss over the session, and EIA-day moves of 5 to 7% can produce $5,000-plus swings on a single 1,000-barrel lot.
WTI is priced to two decimal places in cents, while Brent is priced in the same format but at a slightly different absolute level. Watch the WTI minus Brent spread on your platform alongside the outright USOil price: when the spread widens beyond 5 dollars per barrel, US-specific stress is overriding the global price level.
Worked example
You buy 0.10 lots of USOil at 75.40 (100 barrels of exposure, notional of $7,540). Price rises to 77.40, a $2 move per barrel, and you close. Your profit is 100 barrels x $2 = $200. The same $2 move against you would cost $200. Margin required at 1:100 leverage is roughly $75.40 (1% of notional), so a $200 swing is 265% of margin posted on that position.
What drives the USOil price
WTI is a physical commodity with a narrow supply chain and a deep, mature derivatives market sitting on top of it. A small number of catalysts dominate the day-to-day price, and most of them are scheduled US data releases or OPEC+ headlines.
EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report (Wednesday 10:30 AM ET)
This is the single most reliable scheduled WTI volatility event of any given week. The report covers crude oil stocks, gasoline stocks, distillate stocks, refinery utilisation, and net imports. A surprise build (stocks rise more than expected) is bearish; a surprise draw is bullish. Routine surprises move WTI 1 to 3% within minutes, and the largest prints can move price 5% or more before the dust settles. The American Petroleum Institute (API) inventory estimate releases Tuesday 4:30 PM ET as a preview.
OPEC+ production decisions
Even though WTI is a North American benchmark, OPEC+ output sets the global price level that WTI prices relative to. Scheduled OPEC+ ministerial meetings, voluntary cuts from Saudi Arabia, and quota changes from Russia all move both Brent and WTI. Headlines out of OPEC+ ministerial calls have produced 3 to 5% intraday moves on multiple occasions in the last two years.
US shale production and rig count
Major US shale producers (Pioneer, EOG, Diamondback, Devon, ConocoPhillips) report quarterly. Capital-discipline language (slower growth, dividend over output) is bullish for WTI; aggressive Permian-led growth is bearish. The Baker Hughes US oil rig count releases every Friday at 1:00 PM ET as a high-frequency proxy for forward production.
Refining margins and crack spreads
Refinery utilisation in the EIA report and the gasoline crack spread (RBOB minus WTI) drive crude demand from the buyer side. Summer driving season and winter heating demand push utilisation above 92%; unplanned outages on the Gulf Coast can drop it below 85%. Hurricane-season refinery shutdowns are a recurring volatility window from June to November.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) activity
The US SPR is currently at multi-decade lows after the 2022 emergency drawdowns. Refilling the SPR is structurally bullish for WTI because the Department of Energy is a forced buyer; further drawdowns would be bearish but are constrained by the current low level. SPR purchase awards are published by the DOE on a weekly schedule.
WTI minus Brent spread
The WTI-Brent spread compresses when global supply is tight relative to US supply and widens when US shale production runs ahead of Gulf Coast export capacity. A spread above 8 dollars per barrel signals US-specific oversupply (bearish WTI, neutral Brent); a spread below 2 dollars signals US tightness or global oversupply. The spread is a cleaner read on US-only stress than the outright WTI price.
Geopolitical supply shocks
WTI is less Middle East-sensitive than Brent on average, but sanctions on Iranian or Venezuelan crude, pipeline attacks, hurricane landfall on Gulf production, and Russian export disruption all move WTI sharply. Weekend escalations regularly produce gap opens on Sunday at 5:00 PM ET; sizing must account for closed-market gap risk.
When does USOil trade?
USOil trades close to 24 hours a day, five days a week. The market opens Sunday around 5:00 PM ET and closes Friday around 5:00 PM ET, with a short daily settlement break around 5:00 PM ET. Liquidity and volatility change sharply between sessions, with US hours dominating both.
The single highest-volume window of any normal week is Wednesday 10:30 AM ET, when the EIA inventory report prints. Many discretionary traders flatten positions ahead of the release and reopen after the first 15 minutes have passed.
Roughly 6:00 PM to 3:00 AM ET. Quieter ranges, often a continuation of the prior US close. Watch for Chinese refinery throughput data and PBoC commentary on growth.
Roughly 3:00 AM to 8:00 AM ET. Brent volumes lead WTI during this window. European refinery and Russian export headlines often drive the WTI-Brent spread first.
Roughly 8:00 AM to 10:30 AM ET. NYMEX cash hours start at 9:00 AM ET; liquidity ramps fast. US data including jobs, GDP, and CPI prints at 8:30 AM ET and feeds growth-demand expectations directly into WTI.
Wednesday 10:30 AM ET. The Weekly Petroleum Status Report releases. Spreads can widen briefly in the 30 seconds around the print; price routinely moves 1 to 3% in the first minute and continues to drift for the next hour.
Roughly 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM ET. FOMC announcements at 2:00 PM ET move WTI via the dollar and risk-appetite channels. The Friday 1:00 PM ET Baker Hughes rig count lands in this window.
USOil CFD vs WTI futures vs oil ETF
You can take a view on the WTI price three main ways: a CFD on the spot WTI price (USOil), the NYMEX WTI futures contract (ticker CL), or an oil ETF such as USO. They reference the same underlying barrel but trade and cost very differently.
| Product | Expiry | Smallest size | Access | Cost structure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USOil CFD | None (spot, perpetual) | 0.01 lot (10 barrels) | Any broker offering oil CFDs | Spread + commission + overnight swap |
| NYMEX WTI futures (CL) | Monthly, must roll | 1 contract = 1,000 barrels | CME-enabled futures broker | Exchange fees + commission + roll cost |
| Oil ETF (USO) | None (equity wrapper) | 1 share | Any stock broker | Bid-ask + management fee around 0.60 to 0.80% annual + contango drag |
For active trading the USOil CFD is the most flexible choice: no monthly roll to manage, fractional sizing down to 10 barrels, and 24-hour access. Futures suit institutional size and traders who want exchange-cleared exposure with a precise expiry schedule. Oil ETFs suit equity accounts that cannot hold leveraged or futures products, but the contango drag on USO can quietly cost several percentage points a year relative to spot WTI.
Trading USOil at LHFX
LHFX offers USOil on MT5 with STP/ECN execution and no dealing desk. The specifications are visible inside MT5 under Market Watch, Symbols, USOil.
Up to 1:100 on USOil. Given WTI's volatility, most experienced traders use effective leverage in the 1:10 to 1:20 range.
$3 per side ($6 round-trip) on the Standard account, applied per standard lot of 1,000 barrels.
MetaTrader 5 on Windows, Mac, web, iOS, and Android. LHFX is a direct MetaQuotes licensee.
STP/ECN. Orders route to aggregated liquidity, not an in-house dealing desk. Spreads can widen briefly around EIA prints and OPEC+ headlines.
Sunday 5:00 PM ET to Friday 5:00 PM ET, with a short daily break around 5:00 PM ET.
One standard lot equals 1,000 barrels of WTI exposure. Minimum 0.01 lots (10 barrels). A $1 per barrel move equals $1,000 per standard lot.
For the full instrument page including current spread snapshots and contract specifications, see the USOil instrument page. For commission and spread details across all instruments, see spreads and fees, and for the full leverage policy by instrument see leverage.
Risks of trading USOil
WTI is liquid and well-instrumented, but it is not a low-risk instrument. The combination of high daily volatility, scheduled EIA tail risk, and weekend gap potential means losses can compound very fast on undersized stops or oversized positions.
EIA-report tail risk
Surprise builds or draws have produced 5 to 7% single-bar moves on multiple occasions, faster than most stop-loss strategies can react. On a fully leveraged 1:100 position that is roughly five to seven times the deposited margin. Sizing down ahead of Wednesday 10:30 AM ET, or stepping aside entirely, is the standard mitigation.
Weekend and session gap risk
WTI is closed from Friday 5:00 PM ET to Sunday 5:00 PM ET. Weekend events (Middle East escalation, US sanctions decisions, hurricane landfall on Gulf production) regularly produce gap opens of 1 to 3% on Sunday evening, and a 5% gap is not unprecedented. Stop losses cannot protect you across a closed market; gap fills happen at the next available price.
Leverage amplifies both sides
1:100 leverage on USOil means a 1% adverse move erases the margin posted on that position. The same mechanism that turns a 2% favourable move into 200% return on margin turns a 2% adverse move into a total margin loss. Size positions to your account, not to the leverage cap, especially on EIA days.
Single-instrument concentration
Holding only USOil exposes you to one macro theme (US inventories, OPEC+ supply, global growth, geopolitical supply shocks). A surprise reversal in any one of those drags the whole book. Diversification across uncorrelated instruments reduces the impact of any single thesis being wrong.
Risk disclosure: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. The vast majority of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.