Lates News

According to informed sources, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating a series of "precisely timed anomalies" in crude oil futures trading that occurred before President Trump's shift in policy towards Iran. The CFTC is leading an investigation into crude oil futures trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Intercontinental Exchange platforms, and has requested data from both exchanges, including the so-called "Tag 50" identifier used to identify trading parties. On March 23, just 15 minutes before President Trump announced he would delay the previously threatened strike on Iranian energy infrastructure worth billions of dollars, crude oil and stock index futures were traded. Trump's subsequent statement caused a sharp drop in oil prices and a significant increase in the stock market. A similar situation occurred before President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire agreement with Iran on April 7. Hours before the news was made public, there was an increase in futures trading activity, followed by a drop in oil and natural gas prices.