# How to trade oil (WTI and Brent): supply, demand and rollover > Crude is the world's most political market, with two benchmarks, weekly inventory data and a rollover quirk that surprises new traders. Here is how it works and how to trade it. - Canonical URL: https://forextradingcommunity.com/news/how-to-trade-oil-wti-brent/ - Type: Guide - Published: 2026-09-18 - Updated: 2026-09-18 - Publisher: Forex Trading Community (https://forextradingcommunity.com), FTC Editorial Team - Currencies: USD Oil is the market where geopolitics, macroeconomics and physics meet. Supply disruptions move it, demand forecasts move it, inventories move it, and every driver flows through into currencies — the loonie, the krone, and inflation expectations everywhere. Trading crude directly is a different discipline from trading the currencies it moves, and it deserves its own playbook. This guide explains the two benchmarks, the drivers, the calendar and the rollover quirk that catches new traders. The currency side of the story is in [oil prices and the Canadian dollar](/news/oil-prices-and-the-canadian-dollar/). ## The two benchmarks "Oil" is two markets. WTI — West Texas Intermediate — is the US benchmark, priced at Cushing, Oklahoma, and traded heavily on the futures markets. Brent is the international benchmark, priced in the North Sea and the reference for most of the world's physical crude. The two usually move together and differ by a spread that itself carries information about logistics and regional supply. Retail traders access both as CFDs, with Brent the more common choice for international traders and WTI for those watching US supply. The practical difference in trading terms is small — the drivers are shared — but the symbols, spreads and rollover dates differ between brokers, and the contract specifications are the first thing to check. ## The drivers, in order **Supply.** The supply side is where oil's biggest, fastest moves come from: OPEC decisions, sanctions, shipping disruptions, refinery outages. The current market is the live case study — Brent has traded above $100 a barrel since early September as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz dwindled ([report](/news/brent-crude-above-100-september-2026/)). A supply shock is the market's fastest mover because demand is slow and supply can vanish overnight. **Demand.** The demand side is slower but sets the trend. The IEA's latest monthly report forecasts world oil demand falling in 2026 before recovering in 2027 ([report](/news/iea-oil-market-report-september-2026/)) — the kind of slow-moving forecast that shapes oil's medium-term direction while the weekly headlines trade the shocks. **Inventories.** Weekly US inventory data — the EIA's Wednesday report, with the API's Tuesday preview — is oil's scheduled pulse. Builds (more supply than demand) pressure prices; draws do the reverse. The weekly rhythm is the retail trader's most reliable scheduled event. **The dollar.** Oil is priced in dollars, so dollar strength mechanically pressures prices and dollar weakness lifts them — the same channel that reaches gold. The [dollar index guide](/news/us-dollar-index-dxy-explained/) covers the read. ## The rollover quirk The quirk that catches new oil traders is rollover. Crude CFDs are priced off futures contracts that expire monthly, and when the front contract expires, the CFD's price rolls to the next contract — which trades at a different price. The result: a chart that suddenly "gaps" or shifts level even though nothing fundamental happened, or a position whose value changes slightly at rollover. The practical rules: know your broker's rollover date for the symbol you trade; expect the chart's price to jump at rollover; and understand that long-term positions carry a financing cost that reflects the futures curve — the [trading costs guide](/news/spread-commission-and-swap-trading-costs/) explains the financing side. ## The calendar Oil's calendar has three layers. The scheduled layer: EIA and API inventory days, OPEC meetings, the IEA's and OPEC's monthly reports. The unscheduled layer: supply disruptions, sanctions news, geopolitical events — the headlines that produce the spikes. And the currency layer: US data days, when the dollar channel moves oil alongside everything else. The [economic calendar guide](/news/how-to-read-an-economic-calendar/) covers the scheduled side; the unscheduled side is why oil traders read the news more than most. ## Session behaviour Oil trades nearly around the clock, with the deepest liquidity in London and New York hours and the sharpest reactions to US data and inventory releases during the New York morning. Asian hours are thinner and prone to spikes on geopolitical headlines. The practical rhythm: trade the liquid hours, watch the inventory days, and size for the headline risk that never appears on any calendar. ## A workable framework A starting structure for crude: 1. Before the week, mark the inventory days, OPEC events and the monthly report dates — plus the US data days that move the dollar channel. 2. Read the supply-demand balance first: is the story a supply shock (fast, violent) or a demand trend (slow, persistent)? The story decides the time frame. 3. Trade the reactions at obvious levels — round numbers in dollars, the previous week's high and low — never mid-range. 4. Check the rollover date for your symbol before taking any position that might survive into the next contract. 5. Size for oil's spikes: its headline-driven moves are among the fastest in any market, and the position must survive them. The method is in [position sizing and risk per trade](/news/position-sizing-and-risk-per-trade/). Oil is the market's most expressive instrument — every geopolitical event, every growth forecast and every dollar move lands on its chart. Learn the supply-demand balance, respect the rollover, and trade the calendar with sized positions, and the world's most political market becomes one of its most readable. ## Sources - [US Energy Information Administration](https://www.eia.gov/) - [International Energy Agency](https://www.iea.org/) - [OPEC](https://www.opec.org/) ## Common questions ### What is the difference between WTI and Brent? WTI is the US benchmark priced at Cushing, Oklahoma; Brent is the international benchmark priced in the North Sea. They move together most of the time, separated by a spread that reflects regional supply and logistics. ### What moves the oil price the most? Supply shocks — OPEC decisions, sanctions, shipping disruptions — produce the fastest moves. Demand trends, weekly US inventory data and the dollar set the slower background. ### Why did my oil chart jump at rollover? Crude CFDs are priced off monthly futures contracts. When the contract rolls to the next month, the price shifts to the new contract's level — a mechanical jump, not a market move. ### When is the best time to trade oil? London and New York hours, with the sharpest reactions around the EIA's Wednesday inventory report and US data during the New York morning. Asian hours are thin and spike-prone. ### How does oil affect currency pairs? Through exporters' terms of trade — CAD and NOK strengthen when oil rises — and through inflation expectations everywhere. The oil-CAD link is covered in the oil and Canadian dollar guide. --- This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Trading forex and CFDs carries a high risk of losing money.