CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it reached trading volume and open interest records for its NYMEX Brent (BZ) crude oil futures contracts on Friday, July 11, 2014. Open interest for NYMEX Brent set a record of 101,425 on July 11, surpassing the 100,000 contracts milestone for the first time ever. The previous open interest record was 99,520 contracts, which was set on July 9, 2014.
Trading volume for NYMEX Brent reached a new record of 137,309 contracts, compared to June 12, 2014, the last record day, when volume reached 112,446 contracts. Average daily volume for NYMEX Brent is at a record high of more than 104,000 for July-to-date.
NYMEX Brent crude oil futures contracts are listed by and subject to the rules of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent Oil Futures for Sept (LCOU4) are trading up to $107.51 +0.63 (+0.59%) at time of writing. With the disintegration of Iraq and ISIS plowing thru the country and taking oil fields to the recent Israeli-Palestinian flare-ups, institutions and speculators have good reason to try to hedge risk and profit from oil prices respectively.