(Bloomberg) -- Retail traders aren't shying away from some of the most volatile oil markets ever.
CME Group Inc.'s micro WTI futures contract -- a 10th of the size of its regular counterpart for institutional investors -- saw open interest more than double to 32,000 contracts on Monday. Its smaller size of 100 barrels per contract makes it more attractive to retail traders.
Trading volumes also surged to a record, topping 200,000 contracts for the first time on Friday, the day West Texas Intermediate had the fifth-largest one-day plunge in its history, slumping by $10.24 a barrel.
It's not just futures that have seen an influx of retail money. There were also inflows to some exchange traded products as oil dropped, like the U.S. Oil Fund, which has collected more than $100 million in new cash in the last three trading sessions.
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