Slate Daily Feed Slate Money - Trade or Treason?
Mar 28, 2026
They unpack huge pre-posting oil futures trades and whether insider information moved markets. They analyze how presidential social posts can act as market signals. They debate legal rulings that could reshape social media products. They discuss OpenAI shutting down a consumer video tool and what that means for AI business models.
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Suspicious Oil Trades Around Trump Post
- Oil futures moved sharply around a Trump Truth Social post about talks with Iran, prompting suspicion of pre-post trades tied to insider info.
- $580 million was notional exposure requiring sophisticated counterparties, not retail accounts like Robinhood.
Notional Versus Cash In Futures Bets
- Large notional figures (e.g., $580m) reflect margin-based positions, so actual cash required is far smaller.
- Such trades demand institutional access and sophistication, making retail explanations unlikely.
Foreign Actors Could Turn Insider Signals Into Trades
- A plausible explanation is that foreign contacts with loose secrecy (e.g., Saudi crown prince) could trade on leaked signals without US insider-trading constraints.
- That Occam's-Razor theory fits sudden out-of-hours spikes better than retail rumors.