Slate Money Trade or Treason?
30 snips
Mar 28, 2026 Suspicious oil and stock futures trades flash just before a major presidential post, prompting talk of insider information and who could access it. A surprising court ruling finds major tech companies liable for design-linked harms. OpenAI abruptly shutters its consumer video tool Sora, sparking debate over deepfakes, IP risk, and a pivot to enterprise monetization.
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Suspicious Oil Trades Before Trump Post
- Big out-of-hours oil futures trades coincided with a Trump Truth Social post that softened his stance, spurring a rapid reversal in markets.
- $580 million was notional exposure requiring modest margin and only accessible to sophisticated traders, making the timing suspicious.
Notional Size Misleads About Who Could Trade
- Large notional figures (e.g., $580m) overstate cash required because futures use margin, so the actual capital needed was far smaller.
- Executing such size pre-market requires institutional access, not retail platforms like Robinhood.
Foreign Actors Can Exploit Leaked Signals
- International actors like Saudi crown prince could profit legally from leaked signals without U.S. insider-trading constraints.
- Felix suggests Occam's razor: a foreign actor hearing Trump might exploit the info rather than an administration trader acting illegally.