CME Group has reduced the margin requirement on trading U.S. crude oil futures, The Wall Street Journal reports. The margin was cut by 4%, adds Reuters. Speculators are now required to put up an initial margin of $8,100 to trade a contract for light, sweet crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from $8,438.
It is mandatory for traders to maintain $6,000 of that initial margin, down from $6,250, to keep the contract open overnight. The initial and maintenance margin requirement for hedgers and exchange members was also lowered to $6,000 from $6,250. A year ago, speculators were required to put up $5,062.50 to trade a contract of benchmark crude.
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