{"id":43134,"date":"2026-04-18T07:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=43134"},"modified":"2026-04-18T07:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:08:14","slug":"760-million-oil-shorts-placed-minutes-before-hormuz-announcement-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=43134","title":{"rendered":"$760 Million Oil Shorts Placed Minutes Before Hormuz Announcement (Report)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUSOIL dumped by double digits within minutes after the announcement.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>US President Trump, alongside Iran\u2019s foreign minister, announced a major de-escalation yesterday on the war front, indicating that the Strait of Hormuz will finally be reopened.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/bitcoin-soars-oil-plunges-as-trump-declares-strait-of-hormuz-open\/\">statement<\/a> had a major impact on almost all financial markets, especially oil, given the Strait\u2019s significance.<\/p>\n<p>USOIL, for example, plunged by over 11%. It traded at $90 per barrel before the announcement, but dumped to a five-week low of under $80 within minutes.<\/p>\n<p>As with many previous such major statements, reports emerged that traders had placed big orders just minutes before the announcement went live.<\/p>\n<p>According to Reuters, investors shorted oil prices with a $760 million position 20 minutes before the statement on Friday. Between 12:24 GMT and 12:25 GMT, they sold a combined 7,900 lots of Brent crude futures, according to LSEG data.<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s foreign minister posted on X at 12:45 GMT that the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait was reopened completely for the remaining period of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n<p>Recall that there have been several similar instances in the past few years, especially when it comes to the Middle East. For instance, one account was linked to numerous traders dating back to 2024, as it <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/data-insider-makes-1m-betting-on-us-and-israeli-strikes-over-2-years\/\">placed<\/a> trades with a 100% win rate, betting on Israel\u2019s military actions against other nations in the region.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"you-may-also-like\" class=\"heading-4\">You may also like:<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">$760M short on oil: Placed 20 minutes before the Hormuz announcement.<\/p>\n<p>This is the 3rd time.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 March 23: $500M short, 15 minutes before Trump delayed Iran strikes. Oil dropped 15%.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 April 7: $950M short, hours before the US-Iran ceasefire.<\/p>\n<p>Who knew again? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/npKMh5nvDf\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/npKMh5nvDf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Crypto Rover (@cryptorover) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cryptorover\/status\/2045392382452253072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Aside from the oil\u2019s crashing price yesterday, most other financial assets skyrocketed. Bitcoin tapped a ten-week peak at over $78,000 after the de-escalation, but its run could be in danger as Iran <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/the-78k-bull-trap-why-irans-latest-statement-could-send-bitcoin-tumbling\/\">denied<\/a> many of Trump\u2019s other claims.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-12\" style=\"margin: 8px 0; clear: both;\">\n<div><center><span style=\"font-size:11px; color: gray;\">SPECIAL OFFER (Exclusive)<\/span><\/center><br \/>\n<b>Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/binance600f\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Use this link<\/a> to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance<\/b> (<a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/binance600d\/\">full details<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><b>LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/pl\/bybit24\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Use this link<\/a> to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/760-million-oil-shorts-placed-minutes-before-hormuz-announcement-report\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; USOIL dumped by double digits within minutes after the announcement. US President Trump, alongside Iran\u2019s foreign minister,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-43134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crypto","8":"cs-entry","9":"cs-video-wrap"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}