LSEG data shows that between 1049 and 1050 GMT, traders placed bets on 5,100 lots of Brent and WTI crude futures CLc1, worth well over $500 million, based on a Reuters calculation. Over 13,000 lots of Brent and WTI crude futures, equivalent to 13 million barrels of oil, changed hands in the space of 60 seconds at 1105 GMT. On average, in the three years leading up to the war, some 300,000 lots of Brent crude futures would change hands on a daily basis. That amount has doubled in the last four weeks as daily volumes have hit record highs above 1 million lots, equal to a billion barrels of oil. For now, the Brent oil price is just below $104 as uncertainty persists over the total hit to the global economy - and even over the status of negotiations, as Iran denied it was engaged in discussions with the U.S.Reuters

Source: The Standard March 25, 2026 04:39 UTC