How to Read 1,000-Ounce Silver Futures Quotes
Learn to read SIL 1,000-ounce Silver futures quotes by month-year, dollars-per-ounce notation, $5.00 ticks, quote fields, TAS context, and data status.
Direct answer
Read a SIL 1,000-ounce Silver futures quote as a complete record: product root, month-year, dollars-per-ounce convention, quote type, price field, source, timestamp, session, and data status. A standard CME Globex outright uses 0.005 USD per ounce, or $5.00 per contract, one-fifth the SI dollars. TAS prints track settlement in their own band. A bare per-ounce number is incomplete.
Start with the SIL quoted unit: dollars per troy ounce at fifth scale
SIL is quoted in U.S. dollars and cents per troy ounce, identical decimals to SI but one-fifth the dollars: a $1.00 move per ounce equals $1,000 per SIL contract versus $5,000 for SI. The convention gives every digit its contract meaning. Do not infer a contract value from digits alone when the product root and quotation unit are absent.
What 1,000-ounce Silver futures are explains the standard SIL unit and ACE-deliverable design. 1,000-ounce Silver futures expiration and delivery shows why an otherwise similar price must still retain its named contract month.
The SIL month-year pins a number to one dated agreement
SIL names the futures product family, not a single timeless contract. Preserve the month code and year before comparing prices, looking at a chart, or discussing a delivery date. Current-month plus two near months plus selected January-through-December quarterlies keep the cycle compact, so an interface's nearby shorthand is not evidence of a fixed current schedule.
Futures contract month codes decodes a compact SIL month letter and year into the dated ounce agreement behind the digits. When a quote lacks either field, log it as unknown instead of borrowing the most visible contract's date.
Apply the SIL increment only after naming the product
For an ordinary outright SIL trade on CME Globex, 0.005 USD per ounce is the minimum fluctuation, equal to $5.00 per 1,000-ounce contract. That is a contract rule for this quote type, not a universal display precision for silver data: the same 0.005 decimals on SI mean $25.00, five times more.
Futures tick value and contract multipliers runs the SIL dollar math once the fifth-size instrument is fixed. How to read futures contract specifications separates the 1,000-ounce trading unit, the dollars-per-ounce quotation, the market path, and the price increment into four fields.
An SIL calendar spread pairs two months on the same grid
An eligible fifth-size silver calendar spread is a simultaneous relationship between two SIL contract months moving in the same 0.005 steps. The shared grid does not merge the two legs into one record: each month and the relationship still need to be retained for margin, delivery, and roll analysis.
Futures calendar spreads describes why each SIL ounce leg and the relationship need to be retained. A TAS print tracks the daily settlement price within its band, so its market path must not be silently treated as a Globex outright.
Keep the SIL price field and data status with the number
A bid, ask, last trade, daily settlement, or another labelled field describes a different observation. The source, timestamp, time zone, session, and status such as real-time, delayed, closed, or indicative complete that label. A continuous chart can also change its underlying month and should not replace a tradable month-year.
Futures settlement price versus last trade explains why an SIL daily settlement print and an SIL ounce transaction print cannot be swapped just because their prices sit close together.
This guide explains SIL quote interpretation. It does not provide a live price, validate a market-data entitlement, recommend an order, or predict silver. Current COMEX rules and a provider's data terms govern a particular observation.
Common questions
Is SIL quoted per ounce?
SIL is quoted in U.S. dollars and cents per troy ounce, the same decimals as SI but one-fifth the contract dollars. Keep the product root with the price.
Does SIL alone identify a tradable contract?
No. SIL identifies the 1,000-ounce Silver futures product root. A month and year identify the particular contract to which a quote or order field applies.
What is the ordinary SIL tick on CME Globex?
For an ordinary outright, the minimum fluctuation is 0.005 U.S. dollar per ounce, equal to $5.00 per standard SIL contract.
How do SIL and SI ticks compare?
Both move in 0.005 decimals, but SIL ticks are worth $5.00 against SI's $25.00. Identical prints describe fivefold different exposures, so the root is load-bearing.
Is an SIL settlement field the same as the last trade?
No. Settlement and last trade are distinct labelled fields. Keep each field's contract month, source, observation time, and data status before comparing it.