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2026-04-18 01:15:03
[US$760 Million Short Selling in Oil Market Ahead of Iranian Foreign Minister's Post on Strait of Hormuz Reopening] According to Reuters, approximately 20 minutes before Iran's Foreign Minister announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, investors placed bets of about US$760 million against oil prices. This is another large bet on the world's most actively traded commodity ahead of major news during the Middle East conflict. According to LSEG data, between 8:24 PM and 8:25 PM Beijing time on Friday, investors sold a total of 7,990 contracts of Brent crude oil futures. At the time, these trades were worth approximately US$760 million. Then, around 8:45 PM, the Iranian Foreign Minister posted that the Strait of Hormuz was fully open to all merchant ships for the remainder of the ceasefire, and within minutes, oil prices had fallen by as much as 11% for the day. In recent months, several precisely timed large trades have raised concerns among US lawmakers and legal experts that decisions surrounding war and diplomacy could provide an advantage to some traders in the highly volatile and opaque derivatives market. Previous reports have indicated that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating a series of crude oil futures trades, including those on March 23 and April 7, which occurred shortly before Trump made significant policy changes regarding the war with Iran.
