The $3 trillion oil market has just gotten more accessible than ever: No longer a 'rich man's game'

Oil prices inched lower on Monday after OPEC+ agreed to further increase its output targets from August while exports from key producers via the Strait of Hormuz are recovering, potentially adding to global supplies.Zhang Fengguo | Xinhua News Agency | Getty ImagesOil trading was once largely the preserve of commodity houses, institutional investors and professional traders able to make bets involving thousands of barrels at a time. That barrier has gotten much lower.CME Group began offering a new futures contract Sunday that represents 10 barrels of West Texas Intermediate crude, which means a trader would pay about $860 at current prices.This compares with 100 barrels for CME's Micro WTI contract and 1,000 barrels for its standard contract. The move marks the latest step in what some market watchers describe as the "democratization" of oil trading, following years of growth in online brokerage platforms, exchange-traded funds and smaller futures contracts."Trading oil used to be a rich man's game," said Zavier Wong, market analyst at eToro Singapore. "It wasn't that retail couldn't access the market, but it was heavily gatekept by the size of the contracts," he said, adding that ...