Investors accuse Trump's inner circle of leaking insider information — FT
Global financial markets were rocked by a wave of suspicious transactions that took place just minutes before the White House’s official announcements.
Unknown market players executed large-scale trades totaling about half a billion dollars just before U.S. President Donald Trump announced information about negotiations with Iran.
According to the Financial Times, the unusual activity was recorded on Monday within an extremely short time frame.
Between 6:49 and 6:50 a.m. New York time, approximately 6,200 futures contracts for Brent and WTI crude oil were traded on the exchange.
The total notional value of these assets was approximately $580 million.
These transactions took place just 15 minutes before U.S. President Donald Trump posted on the social media platform Truth Social about “productive negotiations” with Tehran regarding ending the war.
Immediately after the oil transactions, trading volumes in S&P 500 futures surged sharply.
At this time, analysts cannot determine whether a single organization was behind the transactions or if this was a coordinated action by a group of major market participants.
The message, which U.S. President Donald Trump posted at 7:04 a.m., triggered an immediate sell-off in energy markets.
Investors began massively reducing bets on a prolonged conflict, leading to sharp declines in European stocks and U.S. indices.
Hedge fund representatives note that this is far from the first instance in recent months where large trades have occurred ahead of official government statements.
One trader emphasized that for a Monday morning, when there are no major economic reports or speeches by Fed officials, such activity appears “unusually high” and is causing “a degree of disappointment” among investors.
The White House responded promptly to allegations of a possible information leak.
Administration spokesperson Kush Desai stated: “The sole goal of President Trump and members of his administration is to do what is best for the American people.”
He also added that any insinuations regarding the use of insider information without proper evidence constitute “baseless and irresponsible reporting.”
However, the market situation subsequently changed again after Iran denied the reports.
As a reminder, Trump stated that a deal with Iran could be reached in five days.
Trump also noted that Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons.
