Investing Commodities MCX Marketwatch

Commodity info widget on the Kite marketwatch

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The commodity info widget on Kite is a marketwatch surface for the MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange) segment. It renders live quotes, lot sizes, and contract month conventions for the gold, silver, base metals, energy, and agri commodity contracts traded on MCX, alongside the equity marketwatch.

What the widget shows

For each commodity contract added to the marketwatch, the widget surfaces:

  • LTP: Live traded price during MCX session hours (09:00 to 23:30 IST).
  • Change: Absolute and percentage change from previous close.
  • Volume: Total contracts traded today.
  • Open interest (OI): Open contracts at the end of the previous trading day (refreshes overnight).
  • Lot size: Contracts standardised by MCX (e.g., gold = 1 kg, gold mini = 100 g, gold petal = 1 g).
  • Tick size: Minimum price movement.

MCX segment hours

MCX commodity session has two phases on most days:

SessionHours (IST)Commodities
Morning09:00 to 17:00All MCX contracts
Evening17:00 to 23:30 (23:55 on DST aligned days)Gold, silver, energy, base metals (international reference window)

Agri commodities trade only during the morning session in most cases.

Adding a commodity to the widget

Search the commodity name in the marketwatch search field:

CommoditySymbolLot size (subject to MCX revision)
GoldGOLD1 kg
Gold miniGOLDM100 g
Gold petalGOLDPETAL1 g
SilverSILVER30 kg
Silver miniSILVERM5 kg
Crude oilCRUDEOIL100 barrels
Crude oil miniCRUDEOILM10 barrels
Natural gasNATURALGAS1250 mmBtu
CopperCOPPER2.5 MT
ZincZINC5 MT
LeadLEAD5 MT
NickelNICKEL1.5 MT
AluminiumALUMINIUM5 MT
CottonCOTTON25 bales
Mentha oilMENTHAOIL360 kg

Each contract has a specific expiry month. The search dropdown shows current and far-month contracts.

Lot value calculation

The marketwatch shows LTP per unit (per gram for gold petal, per barrel for crude oil, etc.). To compute lot value, multiply LTP by lot size. For gold at Rs 65,000 per 10 grams, the lot value of a 1-kg gold contract is approximately Rs 65 lakh.

This is critical for margin calculation ; the SPAN + exposure margin requirement scales with notional contract value.

Cross-currency settlement reference

Base metal and energy contracts on MCX are priced in INR but reference international benchmarks. Crude oil contracts reference the WTI crude benchmark; the INR price moves with both the international USD price and the USDINR exchange rate. Sharp moves in either drive MCX crude oil contracts.

Differences from equity contracts

  • Smaller depth. Many MCX contracts (especially mini and petal variants) have limited depth on less liquid expiries.
  • Wider spreads. Crude oil mini and natural gas mini contracts can have noticeably wider bid-ask than the standard contract.
  • Settlement. MCX contracts are cash-settled or physical-delivery depending on contract. Most retail flows are cash-settled by squaring off before expiry.

See also

External references

References

  1. MCX India, Contract specifications for all listed commodities, mcxindia.com.
  2. SEBI, Commodity derivatives segment, sebi.gov.in.
  3. Zerodha Support, Commodity trading on Kite, support.zerodha.com.

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The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

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