Traders placed $580M in oil bets minutes before Trump’s Iran post

Investing.com -- Traders on Monday placed bets worth about $580 million in the oil market approximately 15 minutes before President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post about Iran talks that sent crude prices tumbling, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Around 6,200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures contracts changed hands between 6:49 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. New York time, the FT estimated based on Bloomberg data. The trades occurred about 15 minutes before Trump’s 7:04 a.m. post stating there had been "productive conversations" with Tehran to end the war in Iran.

Trading volumes for Brent and WTI increased at the same time, 27 seconds before 6:50 a.m. Futures tracking the S&P 500 share index rose in price moments after the oil trade, with volumes also rising during that timeframe.

It was not known whether one entity or several entities were behind Monday’s trades.

Trump’s Truth Social post triggered a sell-off across global energy markets and gains in S&P 500 stock index futures and European equities.

Crude Oil WTI futures were trading at about $89.50 around 6 PM New York time on Monday, down from above $98 right before Trump made his post. The S&P 500 index gained 1.05% on Monday.

Later on Monday, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of Iran’s parliament, denied in a post on X that any negotiations between Washington and Tehran had taken place.

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