Some trading entities profited millions of U.S. dollars from trades in oil futures contracts on Monday, just 15 minutes before U.S. President Donald Trump posted about “very good and productive conversations” with Iran, which sparked a relief rally and made market observers question the suspiciously well-timed oil trades.
Oil futures plunged by 10% on Monday morning ET after President Trump said he would postpone expected strikes on Iran’s power plants and energy infrastructure for five days, pending negotiations that would continue this week.
Iran later denied any direct or indirect contact has been made, but the oil market appeared to hang on President Trump’s Truth Social posts and oil prices slumped on Monday.
But reporters and analysts at Bloomberg and the Financial Times have noticed unusual trading activity just 15 minutes before President Trump’s post that sent prices crashing. The notional value of massive blocks of West Texas Intermediate and Brent futures contracts traded in just one minute, 15 minutes before the post, is estimated at about $580 million, per FT calculations based on Bloomberg data.
Related: 5 Stocks to Buy Now That The Strait of Hormuz is Closed
It was not clear if one or more entities engaged in these trades or if it was pure coincidence or something more akin to insider trading.
Analysts tell FT that the timing of the large trades looks suspicious.
“It’s hard to prove causality,” one market strategist at a U.S. broker told FT.
“But you have to wonder who would have been relatively aggressive at selling futures at that point, 15 minutes before Trump’s post.”
A portfolio manager noted that “It’s an unusually large trade for a day with no event risk,” no Fed announcements, or important oil-market data coming out.
“Somebody just got a lot richer,” the manager told FT.
The White House flatly dismissed any notion of insider trading.
“The White House does not tolerate any administration official illegally profiteering off of insider knowledge, and any implication that officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told FT.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- Outage in Australia Adds to Global LNG Crunch
- Foreign Funds Ditch $50 Billion in Asian Stocks as Oil Shock Dims Prospects
- Tanker Rates for Red Sea-Loading Saudi Crude Plunge
