Washington: According to a report by the Financial Times, a surge in trading activity was recorded just 15 minutes before Trump revealed that the United States had held two days of “very good and productive conversations” with Iran. The announcement, made on Monday via his Truth Social platform, was later denied by Tehran but had an immediate impact on oil markets.
Data analysis from Bloomberg showed that approximately 6,200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil futures contracts were traded between 6:49am and 6:50am New York time (10:49–10:50 GMT). The scale and timing of these trades have raised significant concerns within financial circles.
Oil futures, which allow traders to buy or sell oil at predetermined prices, are typically used to hedge against price volatility. However, they are also actively traded for profit. In this instance, traders who positioned themselves ahead of the announcement are believed to have made substantial gains, although the exact profits remain unclear.
Following Trump’s post, global oil prices tumbled, leading to a widespread sell-off across markets. The unusually high volume of trades executed just before the announcement has prompted speculation about whether some investors may have had prior knowledge of the development.
Market experts have described the activity as highly irregular. “My gut from watching markets for the last 25 years is this is really abnormal,” a portfolio manager told the Financial Times. “It’s an unusually large trade for a day with no event risk… Somebody just got a lot richer,” the manager added.