decontrol led to the development of the NYMEX WTI Light Sweet Crude Oil futures contract in 1983. The NYMEX Crude Oil contract trades under the symbol CL on the New York Mercantile Exchange, now part of Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The contract is for 1,000 US barrels, or 42,000 US gallons, of WTI crude oil, the minimum tick size of the contract is $0.01 per barrel ($10 for contract), and the contract price is quoted in US dollars. Monthly contracts are available for the current year, the following 10 calendar years, and 2 additional months. For example, from the perspective of any day in June before the last trade date for the June 2020 contracts, contracts for June 2020, July 2020, August 2020, ... December 2030, January 2031, and February 2031 are available for trading. The maximum number of contracts would be 134 contracts, which occurs at the expiry of a December contract when contracts for a new calendar year and two months are made available for trading. Futures contract delivery Cushing, Oklahoma is a major trading hub for crude oil and has been the delivery point for crude contracts and therefore the price settlement point for West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange for over three decades. The town of Cushing, Oklahoma is a small, remote place with only 7,826 inhabitants (according to the 2010 Census). However, it is the site of the Cushing Oil Field, which was discovered in 1912, and dominated U.S. oil production for several years. The area became a "vital transhipment point with many intersecting pipelines, storage facilities, and easy access to refiners and suppliers," infrastructure which remained after the Cushing field had declined in importance. Crude oil flows "inbound to Cushing from all directions and outbound through dozens of pipelines". It is in Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. Adoption of WTI futures for investment purposes Starting in 2003, an influx of traders from outside of the oil industry begun to participate in oil futures and other commodities futures markets. These market participants, which includes hedge funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and retail investors, were motivated by the increasing acceptance of oil futures contracts and related derivatives as financial assets. Demand from these investors and general financial innovation created inexpensive access to financial instruments related to oil futures contracts, such as options, index funds, and exchange-traded funds. As part of wave of investor interest,