February 16th, 1:05 pm by Barbara Zigah
(eToro Blog) The world’s major economic worry, namely the ongoing Greek debt saga, is having a detrimental effect on oil prices. On the OpenBook, oil traders are primarily bullish expecting that the decline will be short-lived. One OpenBook trader who is taking advantage of the dip in oil prices is trader ugoguy who earlier opened a short position which is already showing a profit. This trader is on track to post a 5.7% return for the week and 20.8% for the quarter; oil comprises a significant portion of this trader’s portfolio, with a 44.7% allocation over the last three months which has returned 3.7%. Notably, in reviewing this trader’s portfolio a miniscule allocation of 0.3% over the same three month period to the oil-linked Canadian Dollar has given this trader a 133% return on the USD/CAD pair.
Trader paolo66mbce is also benefiting from the drop in oil prices, scalping more than half a dozen short positions over the past few hours, with gains ranging from as little as 0.43% to 10.0%. Nearly 16% of this trader’s portfolio allocation is to oil which has returned 6.4%.
Earlier today, WTI oil prices were trading lower at $101.26 a barrel, but analysts point out that the drop could have been worse. Two specific things provided a bit of a buffer and tempered the fall; the first was renewed worries about a supply chain disruption after Iran yesterday touted its progress on their nuclear capabilities, and second was the release of the EIA’s report of an unexpected decrease in stockpiles.
One market analyst pointed out that Middle East tensions will always support oil prices in spite of global growth concerns, and yesterday those tensions were ratcheted up when the Iranian president held a press conference showcasing his scientists’ progress on the nuclear front. In the U.S., the EIA reported that oil stockpiles fell by 171,000 barrels for the week ended February 10th which was well off the forecast of a 1.5 million barrel rise.
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