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Commodity Trading Unit Reference

Standard contract units for oil, gold, wheat, and other commodities

Searchable reference table of standard futures contract sizes and units for major commodities — crude oil, gold, wheat, copper, natural gas and more — with the exchange, quote unit, and contract size for each.

What is a futures contract size?

It is the fixed quantity of the underlying commodity that one standard futures contract controls. For example, one crude oil contract covers 1,000 barrels, so a one-dollar move in price changes the contract value by 1,000 dollars.

Commodity contract sizes and units

This reference lists the standard futures contract size and quote unit for the world’s major traded commodities, grouped into energy, metals, and agriculture. Knowing the contract size is essential because it converts a price move into a dollar move: it tells you exactly how much of the physical commodity one contract controls.

How it works

A futures contract fixes a quantity of a commodity at a standardised unit. Your exposure on a single contract is the price times that quantity:

contract value = price per unit × contract size

For example, crude oil is quoted in dollars per barrel and one contract is 1,000 barrels, so at 80 dollars a barrel the contract is worth 80,000 dollars and a one-dollar move is worth 1,000 dollars. Precious metals trade in troy ounces, grains in bushels, and base metals like copper in pounds — each commodity keeping the unit its physical trade has always used.

Tips and notes

  • Sort by Group to compare contract sizes within energy, metals, or agriculture before sizing a position.
  • The quote unit and the contract unit are usually the same, but always multiply price by contract size to get true dollar exposure per contract.
  • Many of these commodities now also list mini and micro contracts at a fraction of the standard size; this table shows the full-size standard contract.