Perhaps one of the most-consumed cooking oils, soybean oil is actually common in everything from paints to insect repellents. The extraction of soybean oil from the cracked soybeans takes place in relatively low heat, with the left over residue ground up into soybean meal for animal feed. On average, around 30-33 million tons of soybean oil is produced annually worldwide. The Chicago Board of Trade has soybean oil contracts that trade at 60,000 lbs at a time.
| Soybean Oil Futures Contract Specifications | |
| Contract Size | 60,000 pounds (lbs) (~ 27 metric tons) |
| Price Quotation | Cents per pound |
| Grade And Quality | Crude soybean oil meeting exchange-approved grades and standards-see exchange Rules and Regulations for exact specifications. |
| Trading Hours | Sunday – Friday 7:00 p.m. – 7:45 a.m. CT and |
| Monday – Friday 8:30 a.m. – 1:20 p.m. CT | |
| Minimum Price Fluctuation | 1/100 of a cent ($0.0001) per pound ($6.00 per contract) |
| Product Code | CME Globex: ZL |
| CME ClearPort: 07 | |
| Clearing: 07 | |
| TAS: ZLT | |
| Listed Contracts | January (F), March (H), May (K), July (N), August (Q), September (U), October (V) & December (Z) |
| Settlement Method | Deliverable |
| Last Trade Date | The business day prior to the 15th calendar day of the contract month. |
| Last Delivery Date | Seventh business day following the last trading day of the delivery month. |
| Trade At Marker Or Trade At Settlement Rules | Trading at settlement is available for First 3 listed futures contracts; nearby new-crop December contract (if not part of the first 3 outrights); first to second month calendar spread; second to third month calendar spread; nearest Jul-Dec spread when available (when July is listed), and are subject to the existing TAS rules. The Last Trade Date for CBOT Grain and Oilseed TAS products will be the First Position Day (FPD) of the front-month contract (FPD is the second to last business day in the month prior to the nearby contract month).
Trading in all CBOT Grain TAS products will be 19:00-07:45 and 08:30-13:15 Chicago time. All resting TAS orders at 07:45 will remain in the book for the 08:30 opening, unless cancelled. TAS products will trade a total of four ticks above and below the settlement price in ticks of the corresponding futures contract (0.0001), off of a “Base Price” of 0 to create a differential (plus or minus 4 ticks) versus settlement in the underlying product on a 1 to 1 basis. A trade done at the Base Price of 0 will correspond to a “traditional” TAS trade which will clear exactly at the final settlement price of the day. |
| Settlement Procedures | Soybean Oil Futures Settlement Procedures |
| Exchange Rules | These contracts are listed with, and subject to, the rules and regulations of CBOT. |
| Source: CME Group | |
Soybean Oil Facts
Soybean oil is a widely used vegetable oil extracted from the seeds of soybean. It has made an impact to the food and fuel industries as it can be used for various purposes. Soybean oil is used by the food industry as cooking oils, margarine, and shortenings. It has also been an important ingredient for industrial products such as biofuels, paints, inks, and plastics.
Key Terms
Crush Spread: A spread trading strategy that is used by traders to manage risk that involves soybean, soybean meal, and soybean oil futures
Last updated October 2015
Additional Info
Recent Posts on Soybean Oil
- Trade Spotlight: Futures – Weekly Summary: Corn, Soybean Oil (9/24/2021) - Stopped out of the Corn position for a profit and the Soybean Oil position for a loss.
- Beyond the Spotlight: September 20, 2021 (Crude Oil, Bean Oil, Sugar) (9/20/2021) - Beyond the Spotlight is a weekly video released on Mondays that spotlights two or three markets that may become trading opportunities for the week ahead. This enables you as a subscriber of the Trade Spotlight advisory service to look ahead with us, while potentially creating additional trading opportunities for yourself. The week’s video linked below… Read more.
- Trade Spotlight: Futures – Weekly Summary: Corn, Soybean Oil (9/17/2021) - Trailed the stop loss on the Corn position to lock in profit. Working a new order to sell the soybean oil futures contract.