Scope Prime Launches 24/7 Oil Liquidity as CME's Continuous Crude Contract Faces Regulatory Delay

Prime of prime broker Scope Prime (@ScopePrime), the institutional arm of Rostro Group, has launched 24/7 liquidity in oil CFDs, extending its continuous offering to contracts for difference on both Brent and WTI crude.

The firm says the launch makes it one of the first prime of prime brokers to offer round-the-clock oil trading in an OTC CFD format. It follows the full rollout of Scope Prime's 24/7 gold and silver products earlier this year.

The weekend gap problem

OPEC+ supply decisions, sanctions announcements and infrastructure incidents routinely land between Friday's close and Sunday's reopen. For brokers and funds carrying energy exposure, that window is difficult to hedge on traditional venues.

Client books stay open to gap risk through the Sunday open, and the resulting margin shortfalls and negative balance events are absorbed by the broker. Scope Prime says its product closes that window by maintaining a continuous institutional order book through evenings and weekends, allowing clients to hedge, adjust exposure and manage risk as events unfold.

Daniel Lawrance, CEO, Scope Prime

"Gold proved that demand for always-on markets is real. We naturally focused on oil next, as this is where the needs of the market are most acute. Energy prices are now being set by events that do not respect market hours, driven by supply decisions, sanctions, and strikes on infrastructure." - Daniel Lawrance, Chief Executive Officer, Scope Prime

Continuous energy markets

The launch comes as the listed futures market is still waiting on regulatory clearance. Derivatives exchange operator CME Group announced a cash-settled 10 barrel WTI contract in June, sized at one tenth of its Micro WTI future and one hundredth of the standard 1,000 barrel contract, with a planned 30 August start for 24/7 trading on NYMEX, pending regulatory review.

That review has since become the obstacle. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said last week it was taking an additional 30 days to gather industry input on continuous trading of oil futures, pushing the comment deadline to 26 August, days ahead of CME's intended launch. Earlier reporting indicated the regulator was preparing to block the exchange's fast-track self-certification route, with a parallel application subject to a 45 day review still under consideration.

Elsewhere, Coinbase moved its US-listed gold and silver futures to round-the-clock trading in June and has flagged oil as the next step. Crypto-native venues have moved fastest: cryptocurrency exchange Binance launched WTI and Brent perpetuals in April with more than $1 billion traded on day one, and decentralised exchange Hyperliquid's oil-linked perpetual cleared $1.2 billion in daily volume during the March price spike.

Scope Prime is the institutional brand of Rostro Group, providing prime brokerage, liquidity, execution and trading infrastructure to professional trading firms, brokers, hedge funds and institutional clients globally. The company delivers multi-asset liquidity across OTC markets, futures and options, and derivatives on digital assets. The brand operates through multiple regulated entities and international financial centres.

Further detail on the 24/7 range is available at https://www.scopeprime.com/sc/products/24-7

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