How We've Been Profiting on Oil's Wild Moves

How We've Been Profiting on Oil's Wild Moves Crude's whipsaw "roller-coaster ride" won't last forever By Dr. Kent Moors, Global Energy Strategist, Money Morning Government shutdowns, geopolitical angst, protracted instability inside the Beltway, and outright market manipulation are combining to make this a profoundly volatile, unsettling time. On Wednesday, for instance, both West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark crude rate set in New York, and Brent, the more widely used oil trading standard set in London, spiked ferociously - more than for any one session in well over a decade. WTI ended trading up by 8.7%; Brent by 8%. With these spikes coming after historic price declines, everyone in the media is now looking for the oil price "floor" that can enable steadier upward moves. I don't expect that floor to be a factor until into 2019. Year-end tax sales, low holiday volume, and institutional portfolio adjustments mean any floor, if it shows up, probably won't register until January. And yet, these kinds of violent swings can be remarkably profitable. Late last week, my Energy Inner Circle readers following along got the chance to close out a 1,000% profit on a Brent "straddle" - a call and a put expiring on the same date at different strike prices - that saw us play the "up" and the "down." There are three things in play right now obscuring the "floor" and keeping crude prices untamable, but that will ultimately give way to a much smoother, upward price trend... Tags: Oil To get full access to all Money Morning content, click here About Money Morning: Money Morning gives you access to a team of ten market experts with more than 250 years of combined investing experience – for free . Our experts – who have appeared on FOXBusiness, CNBC, NPR, and BloombergTV – deliver daily investing tips and stock picks, provide analysis with actions to take, and answer your biggest market questions. Our goal is to help our millions of e-newsletter subscribers and Moneymorning.com visitors become smarter, more confident investors. Disclaimer: © 2018 Money Morning and Money Map Press. All Rights Reserved. Protected by copyright of the United States and international treaties. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including the world wide web), of content from this webpage, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Money Morning. 16 W. Madison St. Baltimore, MD, 21201. The post How We've Been Profiting on Oil's Wild Moves appeared first on Money Morning - We Make Investing Profitable .