WTI/Brent Oil Price Trends | Trading Guide

In this article, we will look at the current oil price, its historical development, how and where oil can be traded, the different types of oil, and what it is used for.

Oil, also known as black gold, is now one of the most important and most traded commodities in the world. It powers global transport and, besides fuels, is also used in the production of today’s ubiquitous plastics and other synthetic materials, and even cosmetics.

Types of oil

Although it may not seem so at first glance, oil comes in many different types. The differences are caused by the location where this commodity is extracted. The basic classification is by density, ranging from light to heavy. According to sulphur content, it is divided into “sweet” or “sour” oil. It is also important to add that oil is measured strictly in barrels (abbreviated as bbl). One barrel corresponds to approximately 159 litres, or 42 US gallons.

The most important global oil types:

• WTI (West Texas Intermediate) is a light oil originating from Texas in the United States.
• Brent Crude is a light oil from the North Sea. This type includes a total of 15 oil varieties.
• OPEC Reference Basket is a group of several oil types from OPEC countries (including, for example, Arab Light from Saudi Arabia or Fateh from the United Arab Emirates). It is a medium-heavy oil.

The price of individual types differs on exchanges depending on how far the oil must be transported and how “sour” it is. Given current standards, more sour oil requires more expensive processing, so its price is usually lower.

Current Brent oil price

In the chart above, you can see the current Brent oil price.

Price change

Historical prices

WTI oil price

Price change

Historical prices

Trading with contracts

Oil can be traded using contracts. Naturally, it is not possible to buy a barrel of oil directly from a processor. Commodities are traded indirectly, on exchanges. Typically, this is a contract between a trader and an exchange. We will now look at examples of such contracts.

Contract for difference (CFD)

CFD is a financial derivative, short for contract for difference. Put simply, it is an agreement between two parties, usually a broker and a trader. After a certain period of time, the difference between the value stated in the contract and the actual oil price is settled.

Among the best-known CFDs is UKOIL, which is a contract for Brent oil. In July 2026 it was trading at roughly 94 USD to 99 per barrel. Another important contract is for American WTI oil, abbreviated as USOIL. Over the same period it sat at around 86 USD to 92 per barrel. Prices have been unusually unsettled because of tension in the Middle East, so read the live figure off the chart above rather than off any single number here. Compared with European oil, American oil is usually priced lower.

Futures contracts

If you trade futures contracts, you are trading oil at a predetermined price at a specific point in time. These are trades in larger “packages” of the given commodity. In the United States, the Crude Oil Futures Contract (abbreviation CL), with a volume of 1,000 barrels of oil, and the E-Mini Crude Oil Futures Contract (abbreviation QM), with a smaller volume of 500 barrels, are very popular.

These contracts are traded, for example, on the American commodities exchange NYMEX, based in New York. The minimum price movement for a CL contract is 0.01 USD and for QM it is 0.025 USD. This smallest unit of movement is called a “tick”. In this type of trading, profit or loss is measured using these “ticks”.

Oil ETFs

Another way to trade oil is through ETFs (so-called exchange traded funds). The trade works like a standard share purchase, because the trader does not buy the oil itself, but invests in funds tradable on an exchange. These funds may invest either directly in oil or in companies focused on oil extraction.

Among the best-known oil ETFs today are:

• United States Oil Fund (USO), which focuses on light and “sweet” oil. It is traded at the spot price of oil.
• Vanguard Energy ETF (VDE) trades shares in American oil companies.
• ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO) trades futures contracts on light American WTI oil.

Shares in oil companies

If you do not want to trade oil through contracts, investing in shares of oil companies is another option. The best-known and most important include:

• Chevron (CVX) is an American company founded in 1879 and is one of the oldest companies in the field of oil extraction and processing. It has long been among the most closely watched energy shares on the American market.
• TotalEnergies (TTE) is a French conglomerate founded in 1924 and focused on oil processing. Until 2021 the company was called Total. In mid-2026 one share cost roughly 85 USD.
• Exxon Mobil (XOM) comes from Texas and processes and extracts oil as well as natural gas. In mid-2026 the share traded at around 148 USD.
• BP (BP) originated in the United Kingdom and was founded in 1909. It focuses on oil and natural gas and also operates a network of filling stations.
• Shell (SHEL) is one of the best-known companies in Europe and comes from the Netherlands. It carried the longer name Royal Dutch Shell until 2022 and the old ticker RDS.A no longer exists. In addition to oil processing and distribution, it also operates an extensive network of filling stations. In mid-2026 the share price was around 88 USD.
• Gazprom PAO (OGZPY) is the only Eastern European representative on this list. It is a giant Russian company engaged in the extraction and distribution of oil and natural gas. Trading in it on Western exchanges is now heavily restricted by sanctions.

The share prices above are indicative, roughly as at the middle of 2026, and they move quickly. Check the current quote with your broker before buying.

Oil crashes and peaks

The biggest crash in history

Like many other commodities, oil has not escaped major fluctuations throughout history. Let us briefly look at the biggest crashes and, conversely, the highest peaks oil has reached.

For an example of the biggest oil crash, we do not need to go far back into the past. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the American oil market collapsed. Its price even fell into negative territory for one day, specifically on 20 April 2020.

At that time, the price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia was reaching its peak. Russia refused to cut production, and the price inevitably kept falling. The American market found the bottom. The price went negative because the market was flooded with cheap oil. There was no one to take American oil. For processors, it is economically unthinkable to stop production.

The traded American oil was linked to an obligation to physically take delivery of the purchased oil, which was not profitable for companies. Prices have since stabilised.

The highest oil price peak

By contrast, the highest price in history was reached by a barrel of oil in 2008. In July of that year, it cost 147 USD. Several major oil suppliers, such as Nigeria, experienced supply disruptions. However, due to the outbreak of the economic crisis and therefore lower demand, the price then fell within half a year to 32 USD in December of the same year.

Where to trade oil

Where can you trade oil? That depends on which investment method you choose.

A very simple option is to open an account with a CFD broker and speculate on the oil price without owning it directly. We can recommend broker XTB (XTB review), and you can also try everything on a free demo account 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Alternatively, you can buy shares in specific oil companies or ETFs, which can be found on major exchanges such as the NYSE or NASDAQ. Of course, most of them can also be bought or sold through online brokers.

Futures contracts can be traded on commodities exchanges, where the trader has their broker. One of the largest examples is the already mentioned NYMEX exchange based in New York.