Mumbai: BSE Ltd, India’s premier stock exchange, today announced modifications to its WTI Crude Oil derivatives contract specifications, aimed at improving trading flexibility, strengthening risk management capabilities and reducing transaction costs for market participants.

Effective November 27, 2026, for December 2026 and subsequent monthly contracts, the revised framework aims to enhance market participation by providing greater operational flexibility, an improved options expiry structure, and attractive cost efficiencies, thereby making the contract more accessible and efficient for brokers, traders, hedgers, and investors. The BSE WTI Crude Oil contract is linked to the globally recognised WTI Crude Oil benchmark traded on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and is cash settled, allowing market participants to gain exposure to international crude oil price movements without physical delivery.

As global commodity markets continue to play an increasingly important role in portfolio management and risk mitigation, the enhancements are designed to provide market participants with greater flexibility in executing trading and hedging strategies while improving overall market accessibility.

Key Enhancements

  1. Simplified Contract Symbol for identification: The existing contract symbol WTICRUDE will be renamed CRUDEOIL for both Futures and Options on Futures contracts, providing a simpler and more intuitive identification framework for market participants.
  2. Enhanced Options Expiry Structure: The expiry of WTI Crude Oil Options on Futures has been revised from two business days prior to the underlying Futures expiry to five business days prior to expiry. This enhancement provides participants with additional flexibility in managing positions, planning rollovers and implementing trading and risk management strategies.
  3. Broader Strike Availability for Enhanced Trading Strategies: The options strike framework will be expanded from the existing 25-1-25 strikes (ITM-ATM-OTM) to 50-1-50 strikes (ITM-ATM-OTM), significantly increasing the number of available strike prices. The expanded strike range will provide market participants with greater precision in strategy execution, enabling more sophisticated hedging and trading opportunities across varying market conditions.
  4. Continuity in Future Cycle for Existing Futures Participants: The expiry cycle of the WTI Crude Oil Futures contract remains unchanged, ensuring continuity and familiarity for existing participants.

For the December 2026 contract series, the Options contract will expire on December 11, 2026, while the corresponding Futures contract will expire on December 18, 2026.

Transaction Cost Benefits for Market Participants

As part of its initiative to encourage wider participation and liquidity development in the WTI Crude Oil derivatives segment, BSE will provide the following cost benefits:

  • Exchange transaction charges on the WTI Crude Oil contract will be Rs 2 per crore for futures and Rs 10 per crore in options,
  • Authorised Person charges applicable to this contract will also be waived, encouraging greater participation through the AP network.

These initiatives are intended to reduce transaction costs for trading members and their clients while facilitating wider market access.

Supporting the Growth of India’s Commodity Markets

The enhanced contract specifications combine a wider strike universe, improved flexibility in options trading and lower transaction costs, creating a more efficient and participant-friendly trading environment.

The initiative is expected to encourage greater participation from brokers, proprietary trading firms, hedgers, institutional participants and individual investors, while contributing to deeper liquidity in the commodity derivatives segment.

Through continuous innovation and market-focused product enhancements, BSE remains committed to expanding market access, strengthening India’s commodity derivatives ecosystem and providing world-class trading infrastructure for market participants.