Iran later denied any direct or indirect contact has been made, but the oil market appeared to hang on President Trump\u2019s Truth Social posts and oil prices slumped on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But reporters and analysts at Bloomberg and the Financial Times have noticed unusual trading activity just 15 minutes before President Trump\u2019s post that sent prices crashing. The notional value of massive blocks of West Texas Intermediate and Brent futures contracts traded in just one minute, 15 minutes before the post, is estimated at about $580 million, per FT calculations<\/a> based on Bloomberg data.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: 5 Stocks to Buy Now That The Strait of Hormuz is Closed<\/a><\/p>\n It was not clear if one or more entities engaged in these trades or if it was pure coincidence or something more akin to insider trading.\u00a0<\/p>\n Analysts tell FT that the timing of the large trades looks suspicious.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to prove causality,\u201d one market strategist at a U.S. broker told FT.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you have to wonder who would have been relatively aggressive at selling futures at that point, 15 minutes before Trump\u2019s post.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A portfolio manager noted that \u201cIt\u2019s an unusually large trade for a day with no event risk,\u201d no Fed announcements, or important oil-market data coming out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody just got a lot richer,\u201d the manager told FT.\u00a0<\/p>\n The White House flatly dismissed any notion of insider trading.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe White House does not tolerate any administration official illegally profiteering off of insider knowledge, and any implication that officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting,\u201d White House spokesperson Kush Desai told FT.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/book.jpg\"\/)
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