NYMEX vs Index Natural Gas Contracts and Why It Matters

Access the deep liquidity of our Heating Oil products, with futures trading over 180 million barrels every day on NYMEX. Heating Oil’s average daily volume exceeded 170K contracts/month in 2019, and its futures are currently traded in 94 different countries on NYMEX. The NYMEX has been using Henry Hub, owned by Sabine Pipeline Company, as the delivery point on its contracts since 1990.

Through the use of a pricing differential, NYMEX traders use Henry Hub to arrive at a settlement price for natural gas each month. The pricing differential takes into account such factors as regional market conditions, transportation costs and transmission capacity. Further information on each exchange’s rules and product listings can be found by clicking on the links to CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. A NYMEX contract provides price stability, as it is not exposed to regional risk like an Index structure.

Therefore, a few employees on the floor of the exchange represent a big corporation and the exchange employees only record the transactions and have nothing to do with the actual trade. The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City. Additionally, the exchanges may have different trading mechanisms, membership requirements, and regulatory oversight. Overall, traders may choose one exchange over the other based on their specific trading needs and preferences. The merger between the two exchanges occurred in 2006 in a move approved by shareholders of both organizations.

  • Connect with a member of our expert Energy team for more information about our products.
  • In 1872, in an effort to create standards for dairy products, a group of New York dairy merchants created the Butter and Cheese Exchange of New York.
  • CME Group is the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, made up of four exchanges, CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX.
  • The Henry Hub Pipeline is connected to four domestic pipelines and nine international ones.

In today’s complex energy environment, smart energy management is vital for your organization’s success. The key is to understand the risks involved with each pricing product and to choose the solution that best fits organizational goals, operational needs and geographical location of the facility. To find out more about how to get independent, comprehensive, expert and data-driven advice on your natural gas supply management, contact Edison Energy today.

New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) – Explained

An Index contract provides assurance that firm supply will be available, without entering into an agreement for more supply than what is required by a facility. Until recently, the exchange operated an open outcry trading system, as well as electronic trading. In 1872, in an effort to create standards for dairy products, a group of New York dairy merchants created the Butter and Cheese Exchange of New York. Not long afterward, eggs were added to the list, and the exchange was renamed the Butter, Cheese and Egg Exchange. Below, you’ll find a monthly breakdown of the NYMEX historical settle prices dating back to 2016.

This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. To trade on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), you must be a member of the exchange. There are margin requirements to trade on the CBOT and CME and you are required to deposit a margin with the respective exchange. By 1882, as these merchants saw the need to add more items to the list of commodities, the exchange was renamed the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Commodity Snapshot

Basis is inclusive of delivery charges, delivery taxes, fuel and supplier margin and continually fluctuates with supply and demand dynamics in the area. In 1933, the COMEX was established through the merger of four smaller exchanges; the National Metal Exchange, the Rubber Exchange of New York, the National Raw Silk Exchange, and the New York Hide Exchange. Through the 1970s, 80’s and 90’s COMEX, NYMEX, and other exchanges shared a single trading floor[6] in 4 World Trade Center. Track forward-looking how to buy ren risk expectations on Heating Oil with the CME Group Volatility Index (CVOLTM), a robust measure of 30-day implied volatility derived from options on NY Harbor ULSD futures. Our market experts provide wholesale trading services for businesses across the Southeast. Track forward-looking risk expectations on Natural Gas with the CME Group Volatility Index (CVOLTM), a robust measure of 30-day implied volatility derived from deeply liquid options on Henry Hub Natural Gas futures.

Weekly Natural Gas Futures End Flat After In-Line EIA Data

The merger brought a rundown of energy, precious metal, and agricultural products to the CME Group of exchanges. It was the nation’s first exchange and, in the beginning, dealt almost entirely in agricultural products and livestock. By 1865, it formalized grain trading with the creation of the world’s first futures contracts. Trade NYMEX WTI Crude Oil futures (CL), the world’s most liquid crude oil contract.

CME is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and trades in much the same way to the NYMEX, in other words, that it trades in commodities and futures and incorporates energy, metals, and so on. CBOT is the Chicago Board of Trade and keeping in mind that it is presently under the CME umbrella, before the merger in 2006 the CBOT utilized tremendously various rules, regulations, trading motors, and traded with various offerings. NYMEX is a open-outcry trading platform, where traders meet to haggle and settle on a market price for a commodity. But by 1978, the NYMEX had successfully ventured into trading heating oil, crude oil, gasoline and natural gas. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) monitors and regulates the NYMEX and other derivatives markets dealing in futures, swaps and certain types of options.

What’s the Henry Hub, and What’s It Got to Do With the NYMEX?

Updates to policy can dramatically impact world oil supply—and in turn, prices. Financial look-alike products offer an alternative to clients looking for cash-settlement. Henry Hub (LN) options provide a hedge against volatility across the market. This area has been inundated by gas from the Marcellus/Utica shale plays, providing the region with supply that greatly exceeded local demand. The issue was compounded by the lack of existing pipeline infrastructure; the ability to move gas out of the region was severely limited, and excess supply became stranded in the tri-state region. An Index contract is subject to any constraint that limits gas into or out of an area.

Understanding the NYMEX

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. An Index contract structure is determined monthly, like the NYMEX, but is based on a specific region of the country (not Henry Hub, Louisiana). All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only.

NYMEX + Contract (or Basis Contract)

Daily exchange volume of the CME Group is around 30 million contracts with NYMEX making up around 10% of that amount due to the physical commodities that are traded on that exchange. A lot larger volumes are traded in interest rate futures, options, and forward contracts that trade on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Holding onto tradition, the NYMEX functioned as an open outcry trade exchange until the early 2000s.

Crude oil costs account for 56% of the average price of a gallon of heating oil or ultra-low-sulfur diesel. Trade with other NYMEX oil contracts for significant savings and precise exposure. Contact us today and let’s start the conversation about how Edison Energy can evaluate and mitigate risks while aligning energy investments with your company’s strategic goals. One benefit of an Index structure is that an end-user typically has the flexibility to adjust monthly contract volumes before the Index being determined. Volume flexibility can be an advantage to end-users that do not have a predictable load or usage profile in advance.

Moreover, precious and industrial metals as well as energy products such as crude oil, natural gas and ethanol are traded. Trading on the NYMEX incorporates a wide assortment of trading options like oil futures, metals futures, energy futures, and different commodities like agricultural products and others. Not at all like other market types, NYMEX doesn’t trade in options or equities. The straightforwardness with which these instruments are traded on the exchanges is indispensable to making protective positions how risky is day trading (supports) and checking futures prices, making NYMEX an important part of the trading and hedging universes. Trading on the NYMEX includes a wide variety of trading options such as oil futures, metals futures, energy futures, and other commodities like agricultural products and others. Futures and options on energy, precious metals, and agricultural commodities are sometimes used to speculate, but are also tools for companies, farmers, and other industries that want to manage risk by hedging positions.

Much larger volumes are traded in interest rate futures, options, and forward contracts that trade on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). In the end, as Simplot and traders all plotted against each other, 100 million pounds’ worth of contracted potatoes went undelivered. The NYMEX suffered a hard blow to its reputation—not that it was all that sparkling in those days—and it got out of the potato trading business and shifted its parabolic sar strategy attention to the energy market. Access the world’s most liquid natural gas market on CME Direct, a one-stop trading platform for futures, options, and blocks. Natural Gas is in the top three of the world’s largest physical commodities futures contracts, with use growing in South America, Asia and Europe. Gasoline prices are impacted by crude oil price changes and can be traded with RBOB futures or RBOB as a spread to WTI.