Quote from dom993:
You are confused ... 1 point in CL is 100-ticks, I have to suppose you meant 1-tick.
Then the question is ... what type of order are you using?
For STP orders (which I believe are managed at your broker server), actual slippage will vary ... I find 1-tick slippage on average to be a pretty reasonable assumption.
I have no experience using STPLMT orders (which do reside on the CME servers).
For MKT orders, slippage can be anything, depending on how long it takes for your order to reach the CME server & get processed.
Quote from Dan37a:
I plan to start trading crude oil futures, but my technique is fairly high frequency (about a trade every 2 minutes). Is it a given I will always pay 1 point on the bid ask spread, or can I expect to be filled better than that, at least sometimes?
Quote from ocean5:
When i use MKT order,i usually get 2-3 ticks minimum slippage,as with the CL futures spread is often 2-3 or sometimes 4 ticks.It usually goes well for me when i use LMT orders.When you get the signal,use LMT 2 tciks lower/higher your entry.Just a friendly advice.
Quote from ocean5:
That is why i try to exit quick,when i`m filled.STP orders are awfull
:eek:
Flash Crash. Everyone smart pulled out (i.e. was not in the market). Learned a lesson (though I did not loose money - i was out at that time) and progammed an indicator evaluating the order book against a statistic. If it is abnormally thin, there is no sense trading 
Quote from Chicago_CTA:
OP-
You may want to RE-consider if trading futures is appropriate for you. It may not be.
BE ADVISED YOUR STOPS TO EXIT LOSING POSITIONS MAY NOT FILL AND YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CHECK YOUR STOPS.
I know on our T4 platform when a STOP is executed in CL it actually becomes a LIMIT ORDER 50-cents away from the market.
So if you have an order to SELL 5 CL-N2 @ 80.25 STOP, and the market trades at or below 80.25, the order that is sent is:
SELL 5 CL-N2 @ 79.75 LIMIT. This will often fill at 80.25 or slightly below, but it MAY not fill if market's thin for some reason.
Make sense?
ALWAYS CHECK YOUR FILLS.
Good luck in the global oil markets.