Approximately $950 million in crude oil futures sell orders appeared a few hours before the U.S.-Iran ceasefire announcement, followed by a sharp decline in oil prices.

According to Reuters, several hours before the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement was announced, investors sold 8,600 contracts of Brent and WTI crude oil futures at 19:45 GMT on Tuesday, placing short bets totaling approximately $950 million. Later that evening at 22:30 GMT, U.S. President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire agreement with Iran, prompting crude oil futures prices to plunge roughly 15%, falling below $100 per barrel. Notably, such large-scale trades are typically distributed across multiple exchanges to avoid price impact; however, this single, concentrated trade executed after settlement was highly unusual. This pattern mirrors a similar operation on March 23, when investors dumped approximately $500 million worth of crude oil futures just 15 minutes before Trump announced the postponement of strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure—after which oil prices also plunged 15%.