Oil markets witnessed a series of unusually well-timed large trades as investors placed a $760 million bet on falling crude prices just minutes before Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz would remain open during the ceasefire, triggering an immediate drop of up to 11% in oil prices, while data showed that nearly 7,990 lots of Brent crude futures were sold within a single minute ahead of the announcement, adding to a pattern seen in recent weeks where traders executed massive positions shortly before major geopolitical developments, including a $950 million bet placed hours before a U.S.-Iran ceasefire announcement on April 7 and another $500 million sell-off just minutes before U.S. President Donald Trump delayed planned attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure on March 23, which led to a 15% decline in crude prices, raising growing concerns among lawmakers and analysts that sensitive information related to war and diplomacy may be giving certain market participants an unfair advantage in volatile derivatives markets, prompting an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into these suspicious oil futures trades to determine whether insider knowledge or market manipulation played a role in influencing global energy prices.
Traders place $760 million bet on falling oil ahead of Hormuz announcement
