Traders place $760 million bet on falling oil ahead of Hormuz announcement

Investors placed a bet worth about $760 million ​on a falling oil ​price around 20 minutes before Iran's foreign minister announced ​on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was open, another sizeable wager on the world's most traded commodity ahead of major announcements in the course of the ‌Middle East ⁠war.

Large, ⁠well-timed trades in recent months have drawn concern from U.S. lawmakers and legal ​experts that decisions around war and diplomacy can give some traders an edge ​in volatile and opaque derivatives markets.

Between 1224 GMT and 1225 GMT investors sold a combined 7,990 lots of Brent crude futures, ​according to LSEG data.


Based on the price ⁠at the ‌time, these trades were worth about $760 million.

At ​1245 GMT, ​Iran's foreign minister posted on X that passage for ⁠all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz was ​declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, ​in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon.

The announcement pushed crude down as much as 11% on the day in the minutes that followed.

Reuters reported that on April 7 that bets worth around $950 million took place just hours ahead ‌of the U.S. and Iran announcing a two-week ceasefire. On March 23, investors sold $500 million in oil futures ​15 minutes ​before U.S. President Donald ⁠Trump's announcement that he would delay attacks on Iran's energy infrastructure, triggering a 15% drop in the crude price.

The U.S. Commodity Futures ​Trading Commission is investigating a series of oil futures trades, including those on March 23 and April 7, that were placed shortly before major policy shifts by Trump related to the war in Iran, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Kirsten Donovan)