Trading
Unit
Heating Oil Futures:
42,000 U.S. gallons (1,000 barrels).
Heating Oil Options:
One NYMEX Division heating oil futures contract.
Trading Hours
Futures and Options:
9:50 A.M. to 3:10 P.M., for the open outcry
session.
After-hours trading
is conducted via the NYMEX ACCESS® electronic
trading system from 7 P.M. to 9 A.M. on Sundays and
4 P.M. to 9 A.M., Mondays through Thursdays. All
times are New York time.
Trading
Months
Heating Oil Futures:
Trading is conducted in 18 consecutive months
commencing with the
next calendar month (for example, on October 2,
1998, trading occurs in all months from November
1998 through April 2000).
Options: 18
consecutive months.
Price Quotation
Heating Oil Futures
and Options: In dollars and cents per gallon: for
example, $0.5277 (52.77¢) per gallon.
Minimum Price
Fluctuation
Heating Oil Futures
and Options: $0.0001 (0.01¢) per gallon ($4.20 per
contract).
Maximum Daily
Price Fluctuation
Heating Oil Futures:
Initial limits of $0.06 (6¢) per gallon are in place
in all but the first two months and rise to $0.09
(9¢) per gallon if the previous day’s settlement
price in any back month is at the $0.06 per gallon
limit. In the event of a $0.20 (20¢) per gallon move
in either of the first two contract months, limits
on all months become $0.20 per gallon from the limit
in place in the direction of the move following a
one-hour trading halt.
Options: No price
limits.
Last Trading Day
Heating Oil Futures:
Trading terminates at the close of business on the
last business day of the month preceding the
delivery month.
Options: Trading
ends three business days before the
underlying futures
contract.
Exercise of
Options
By a clearing member
to the Exchange clearinghouse not later than 5:30
P.M., or 45 minutes after the underlying futures
settlement price is posted, whichever is later, on
any day up to and including the option’s expiration.
Options Strike
Prices
Twenty strike prices
in one-cent-per-gallon increments above and below
the at-the-money strike price, and the next ten
strike prices in five-cent increments above the
highest and below the lowest existing strike prices
for a total of at 61 strike prices. The at-the-money
strike price is the nearest to the previous day’s
close of the underlying futures contract. Strike
price boundaries are adjusted according to the
futures price movements.
Delivery
Heating Oil is F.O.B.
seller’s facility in New York Harbor, ex-shore. All
duties, entitlements, taxes, fees, and other charges
paid. Requirements for seller’s shore facility:
capability to deliver into barges. Buyer may request
delivery by truck, if available at the seller’s
facility, and pays a surcharge for truck delivery.
Delivery may also be completed by pipeline, tanker,
book transfer, or inter- or intra-facility transfer.
Delivery must be made in accordance with applicable
federal, state, and local licensing and tax laws.
Delivery Period
Deliveries may only
be initiated the day after the fifth business day
and must be completed before the last business day
of the delivery month.
Alternate
Delivery Procedure (ADP)
An Alternate Delivery
Procedure is available to buyers and sellers who
have been matched by the Exchange subsequent to the
termination of trading in the spot month contract.
If buyer and seller agree to consummate delivery
under terms different from those prescribed in the
contract specifications, they may proceed on that
basis after submitting a notice of their intention
to the Exchange.
Exchange of
Futures for, or in Connection with, Physicals
(EFP)
The commercial buyer
or seller may exchange a futures position for a
physical position of equal quantity by submitting a
notice to the Exchange. EFPs may be used to either
initiate or liquidate a futures position.
Grade and Quality
Specifications
Generally conforms to
industry standards for fungible No. 2 heating oil.
Inspection
The buyer may request
an inspection for grade and quality or quantity for
all deliveries, but shall require a quantity
inspection for a barge, tanker, or inter-facility
transfer. If the buyer does not request a quantity
inspection, the seller may request such inspection.
The cost of the quantity inspection is shared
equally by the buyer and seller. If the product
meets grade and quality specifications, the cost of
the quality inspection is shared jointly by the
buyer and seller. If the product fails inspection,
the cost is borne by the seller.
Position Limits
7,000 contracts for
all months combined, but not to exceed 1,000 in the
last three days of trading in the spot month or
5,000 in any one month.
Margin
Requirements
Margins are required
for open Heating Oil futures or short options
positions. The margin
requirement for an options purchaser will never
exceed the premium.
Trading Symbols
Futures: HO
Options: OH
