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@zak010, if you want to find brokerage fees, the best idea is to look at the fees that brokers quote on their websites. Pick a couple of brokers and see what they have listed.
You are interested in a broker's "all in" fees, meaning all exchange and data fees, and brokerage commission, for the "round turn" transaction (both buy and sell). There will usually be a breakdown of the components of the final fee, as you see in this one.
In the linked pdf, scroll down to "NYMEX" on page 2, and then to "CL CRUDE OIL FUTURES." The all-in fees range from $2.26 to $2.96 per contract, depending on which version of the NinjaTrader trading platform you will use. As a very rough rule of thumb, I would expect something in or around, or slightly below, $3 a contract for many futures contracts, with the micros generally less. There will be some variation between brokers, so you can try several to get a better idea. This would be a start, if you want a general idea.
Questions of this sort can be found very easily by using Google (which is how I came to find this one).
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Now, a general comment on all the questions you have been posting, one at a time, on the forum:
You have been asking extremely basic questions which have suggested to me that you are interested in trading crude oil and gold, but know very little of a practical nature about futures in general, and about these instruments in particular. I think that some extensive background use of the CME website as well as perhaps more general sites such as Investopedia or even Wikipedia, and a lot of use of Google, would help you a lot.
You should also know that crude oil (CL, etc.) can be very volatile, and can simply take a trader's head off very quickly. And often does.
There is also nothing like actual experience to teach you. Many brokers will have a free 15 or 30-day trial period where you can learn something about the market instrument you are interested in by actually following it and entering simulated trades, using live data but only simulated trading without opening an account.
This can give you some taste of it. Then, frankly, it is a good idea to open an actual account when you are ready, and either do some very small live trading (particularly using a micro contract), or even staying with sim ("demo") trading until you have some familiarity with the markets you want to trade. You may not be ready for this, but at some point you will be, and when it is the logical next step, you should take it.
Regarding this forum: people will respond to your questions here, but you are peppering the forum with all these little questions that you could have taken a little more effort on your own to find the answers to.
By all means, continue to use this forum as a resource if you need it. People are generally happy to help. But you could do more on your own as well, frankly, and it will benefit you if you do.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Reuters
LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - S&P Global Platts will include U.S. WTI Midlands crude in its Brent oil benchmark from June, as previously guided, S&P's Vera Blei said in a benchmark update at the London Energy Forum on Monday.
Platts will accept 11 U.S. Gulf Coast terminals as supply points for WTI Midland crude into the Brent benchmark complex, she added.
Dated Brent, the underlying contract for Brent futures traded on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), is currently based on five North Sea crudes, the supply of which is in long-term decline. The five crude streams are Forties, Brent, Oseberg, Ekofisk and Troll.
WTI Midland crude is produced in the United States and will be the first grade from outside the North Sea to be included in Brent.
Of the 11 U.S. Gulf Coast terminals, eight are located in Corpus Christi and three in Houston, with combined storage capacity of 75 million barrels, a presentation slide showed.
The agency also confirmed it would increase the physical cargo size to 700,000 barrels from the current 600,000.
Trading: Primarily Energy but also a little Equities, Fixed Income, Metals and Crypto.
Frequency: Many times daily
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Been traveling so this is now a few days old, but for the record
CRUDE OIL MARGINS EFFECTIVE 17TH MARCH
Maintenance margin as follows (Initial Margins, ie non-member rates will be 110% of these)
Tier 1 / Apr23 decreasing from $6600 to $6000 -$600
Tier 2 / May23 decreasing from $6500 to $5900, -$600
Tier 3 / Jun23 decreasing from $6300 to $5700, -$600
...
Tier 9 / Dec23 decreasing from $4900 to $4700, -$100
...
Tier 21 / Dec24 decreasing from $3950 to $3750, -$200
Trading: Primarily Energy but also a little Equities, Fixed Income, Metals and Crypto.
Frequency: Many times daily
Duration: Never
Posts: 5,049 since Dec 2013
Thanks Given: 4,386
Thanks Received: 10,206
Another margin reduction
CRUDE OIL MARGINS EFFECTIVE 23RD MARCH
Maintenance margin as follows (Initial Margins, ie non-member rates will be 110% of these)
Tier 1 / May23 decreasing from $6000 to $5800 -$200
Tier 2 / Jun23 decreasing from $5900 to $5700, -$200
Tier 3 / Jul23 decreasing from $5700 to $5500, -$200
...
Tier 8 / Dec23 decreasing from $4800 to $4500, -$300
...
Tier 20 / Dec24 decreasing from $3800 to $3600, -$200
Oil Surges In Early Trading After OPEC+ Surprise 'Unipolar World'-Challenging Production Cut
As one would have expected, oil prices are surging at the futures open with WTI up over 7% near $82 - its highest since late Jan...
Brent hit $86...
Nine members of OPEC+ announced today a surprise "voluntary" collective output cut totaling 1,66mn b/d which will take effect from May till the end of 2023.
As we have argued, OPEC+ has very significant pricing power relative to the past, and today's surprise cut is consistent with their new doctrine to act preemptively because they can without significant losses in market share.
As we already assumed that Russia cuts would extend into 2023H2, we are lowering our OPEC+ production end-2023 forecast by 1.1 mb/d. Incorporating this significantly lower OPEC+ supply, slightly lower demand, and the modest French SPR release, we have nudged up our Brent forecasts by $5/bbl to $95/bbl (vs. 90 previously) for December 2023, and to $100 (vs. 97) for December 2024.
So OPEC+ has announced that they will cut production. I see that the oil price has increased by 6% today, however, can this possibly be bearish because OPEC thinks demand is coming down?
So far, certainly a valid question. The only thing is that demand in this area is not going down. On the contrary, to give just one example: After the Covid measures in China are gone, the demand for oil and gas is growing there again. If China also needs more oil again, then other countries will also demand more oil due to the normalizing supply chains. Thus, it is not the demand that is the reason for this decision, but rather the changing geopolitical situation in the world.
In other words: The decision to reduce production is absolutely political. To learn more about this, I recommend you to read up on the current geopolitical situation in the world (Russia, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and US among others). Not very easy, but I for example spend at least one full hour a day only with this topic. Any way:
Trading: Primarily Energy but also a little Equities, Fixed Income, Metals and Crypto.
Frequency: Many times daily
Duration: Never
Posts: 5,049 since Dec 2013
Thanks Given: 4,386
Thanks Received: 10,206
There's a large debate on this. One side is exactly that, that when China demand returns there may not be enough supply to cover it. The other side of the debate is that in this low price environment (prices are low, plus they are getting a discount from Russia) China have been importing as much oil as ever despite lower demand, and now have more oil in stock than ever before. As such increased China demand will be meet by stock drawdowns.
I don't have an opinion on this. Just raising the other side of the argument.
Manufacturing index's around the world are plummeting. US Manufacturing PMI has been below 50 for 5 months in a row. In Germany its been below 50 for 9 months in a row. (Above 50 its expanding, below 50 its contracting). Despite less supply chain issues, world shipping is off massively. Just saw a report that US railway container shipments for Q1 were down 10% year on year. Macro investor Raoul Pal often says that commodity traders always overly focus on supply and miss the demand picture.
Again I don't have an opinion on this. Just raising the other side of the argument.
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