Flurry of suspicious oil trades worth $800 million triggers regulatory probe
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A trader couldn’t hope for better timing.Moments before President Trump postponed strikes on Tehran’s energy infrastructure in a morning social-media post on March 23, a spasm of trades hit the market during off-hours. More than $800 million worth of U.S.
and international oil futures changed hands in a matter of minutes, according to LSEG data.The traders on the right side of those well-timed bets profited when U.S. oil prices fell as much as 13% in the wake of Trump’s change of heart.
At least five firms posted gains of $5 million or more on crude futures they bought and sold that day, as measured by average prices adjusted for volume, according to trading records viewed by The Wall Street Journal.The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is now scrutinizing the surge in trading volumes. The regulator, which supervises futures markets, is trying to gauge whether an insider with prior knowledge of Trump’s March 23 post traded on that information or leaked it to someone who could do so, according to people familiar with the matter.The CFTC is interested in at least three firms as part of its inquiry, according to documents viewed by the Journal and one of the people.
The London-based investment firm Qube Research & Technologies earned about $5 million of adjusted gains on those trades, the documents show, while Forza Fund Ltd. netted roughly $10 million.
Totsa, the trading arm of the French oil company TotalEnergies, posted a roughly $200,000 profit.The firms haven’t been accused of wrongdoing, and it couldn’t be determined why the CFTC is interested in them. Investigators are wading into an arcane and secretive corner of markets where algorithms often dominate; the motivation for any
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