CME Plans Smaller WTI Contract and 24/7 Gold Trading

CME Group said on June 11 that it plans to offer 24/7 trading for new smaller-sized crude oil and gold contracts, pending regulatory review. The exchange said the new crude oil contract will be 1/10th the size of its existing Micro WTI futures and is scheduled to launch on August 30, while 24/7 trading for existing 1-Ounce Gold futures is set to begin on July 26.

The announcement extends CME’s recent push toward longer listed-derivatives trading windows after its late-May move to continuous crypto futures and options trading. For metals traders, the practical change is that 1-Ounce Gold futures would no longer pause around the weekend in the same way traditional futures schedules do. For energy traders, CME is also making position sizing more granular by introducing an even smaller WTI contract aimed at lower notional exposure.

The exchange framed both changes as a way to give market participants tighter control over risk and more flexibility around global event-driven trading. That matters because gold and crude oil often react to geopolitical headlines, central-bank surprises and weekend macro developments before U.S. regular hours fully resume.

Why it matters

Smaller contracts and longer trading windows lower the operational barrier for active traders who want listed exposure without benchmark-size futures risk. They also increase pressure on brokers, FCMs and platform providers to support weekend risk controls, margin monitoring and client access outside legacy futures hours.

What to watch next

Watch for final regulatory clearance, broker rollout timing and whether liquidity in the new WTI contract develops quickly enough to make it a practical retail and smaller-account hedging tool.