Commodities Market

What commodity markets are

Commodities are standardised, interchangeable physical goods — a barrel of oil, a troy ounce of gold, a bushel of wheat. Because each unit of a given grade is essentially identical, commodities can be traded as homogeneous contracts on centralised futures exchanges rather than as unique items. The price you see quoted on this page is usually a futures price, not a cash spot price, although the two are tightly linked.

A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a fixed quantity of a commodity at a specified future date, at a price agreed now. Most futures are closed out before expiry — very few participants actually want physical delivery of 1,000 barrels of West Texas Intermediate — but the existence of physical settlement anchors prices to real-world supply and demand.

The main commodity groups

• Energy. Crude oil (West Texas Intermediate and Brent), natural gas, heating oil, and gasoline. Energy is the largest sector by notional volume and is closely watched for its impact on inflation and growth.
• Precious metals. Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Gold in particular is used as a monetary hedge and tends to rise when real interest rates fall or the US dollar weakens.
• Industrial metals. Copper, aluminium, nickel, zinc, lead. Industrial metals are a classic proxy for global manufacturing activity — "Doctor Copper" is market shorthand for the cycle.
• Agricultural. Corn, wheat, soybeans, coffee, sugar, cocoa, cotton, live cattle. Heavily influenced by weather, harvest cycles, and trade policy.

How commodity prices are quoted

Every commodity has its own unit and contract size. Crude oil trades in barrels, with each contract covering 1,000 barrels; gold trades in troy ounces with contracts of 100 ounces; wheat trades in bushels in 5,000-bushel contracts. The quoted price is per unit, so a crude oil front-month contract at "80" means $80 per barrel, or $80,000 notional per contract.

Contracts are listed by expiry month — "CL1!" or "front-month" crude is the next contract to deliver, while "CLZ2026" would be December 2026 delivery. The difference in price between contract months tells you whether the market is in contango (later months more expensive, usually a sign of ample supply) or backwardation (later months cheaper, usually a sign of immediate tightness).

What drives commodity prices

• Supply shocks. OPEC+ production decisions, pipeline disruptions, droughts, mine strikes, and geopolitical events on the supply side move prices quickly and often sharply.
• Demand cycles. Global industrial production, Chinese stimulus, seasonal heating and cooling demand, harvest cycles.
• The US dollar. Most commodities are priced in dollars, so a stronger dollar mechanically pressures commodity prices in dollar terms and vice versa.
• Real interest rates. Real rates are the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like gold. When real rates fall, gold typically benefits.
• Inventories and positioning. Weekly US crude inventory data, EIA natural gas storage, LME warehouse stocks, and COT positioning reports all show up in price action around their release.

Trading hours

Most commodity futures trade on CME Group venues nearly 24 hours a day during the weekday session, with a short daily maintenance break. That means gold, oil, and grain prices continue to move overnight and respond to news out of Asia and Europe long before equity markets open.

How to use this page

The overview widget above covers the key commodity contracts in one place; the technical-analysis blocks for gold and crude oil summarise short- and longer-term signals on the two most-followed commodities. For deeper charting with indicators and drawing tools, see the Advanced Charts page. The economic calendar lists scheduled releases — including the US EIA inventory reports — that frequently move commodity prices.

Last reviewed on April 24, 2026. Commodity futures are leveraged instruments and can produce losses greater than the initial margin. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to trade. See our Disclaimer.