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London Stock Exchange electronic display board
Reuters reported on the 17th (local time) that suspicions of information leakage have arisen again as large-scale bets were placed on a drop in oil prices just before Iran announced the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), investors sold 7,990 contracts of Brent crude oil futures for one minute starting at 12:24 PM on that day.
The contract size amounted to approximately 760 million dollars (about 1.115 trillion Korean won) based on the price at the time.
Approximately 20 minutes after this transaction, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced via X (formerly Twitter) a policy to allow navigation through the Strait of Hormuz during the ceasefire period.
Immediately after the announcement, international oil prices plummeted by up to 11% during trading, allowing investors who sold futures to make significant profits.
Reuters explained that similar suspicious trading patterns have occurred before.
On the 7th, just before the US and Iran announced a two-week ceasefire, some investors sold approximately 950 million dollars (about 1.4 trillion Korean won) worth of crude oil futures.
Also, on the 23rd of last month, crude oil futures contracts worth 500 million dollars (about 740 billion Korean won) were sold 15 minutes before US President Donald Trump announced a delay in attacks on Iran's energy infrastructure.
At that time, oil prices plunged by 15% after President Trump's announcement of the attack delay.
As large-scale investments coinciding perfectly with critical changes in the war situation are repeated, some are suspecting the possibility of insider information leakage.
Accordingly, the US regulatory authority, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), recently requested data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and ICE Futures Exchange regarding allegations of unfair trading raised in the crude oil futures market.
Vessel passing through the Strait of Hormuz
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