keep you free market price discovery bullshit in college finance and economics class. this is the real world. where there is profits there is criminal activity.
I agree that thin markets have potential for manipulation but the oil markets are too big with too many big players and huge corps with vested interest. Oil markets are defenitly not manipulated. Maybe on the tick level but you can't manipulate crude from 10 to 110. Sorry, cant happen.
Speculators are as fickle as they come. Oil prices would have collapsed a long time ago if this rise was due to pure speculation without any fundamental reasons behind the rise in price. An energy revolution is happening. Things will be very different in 10-15 years.
Funny. Speculation refers to rogue traders and not the Federal Reserve. Isolation via congressional vote.
price discovery is another word for price gouging or 'scalping'. hedge funds buying up all the contracts.
The I-Banks like Goldman, and the big hedgies are jamming up the Ags and oil by piling in LONG. It's a pretty one sided market when Joe Sixpack piker goes short 2 CL, and Goldman buys 5000 long at a clip. They are parking the free fed money into commodity futures, because they can't make much in S&P futures right now. Something needs to break because the US economy can't bear $5 gas.
Where were all of the greedy speculators back in 98 when oil was trading at $11???? Can speculators not short crude as well as long? Unbelievable. Anything the government touches turns to shit but now they're going to come in and save the day?