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A comment on The Essex Boys: how nine traders hit a gusher with negative oil. Parent comment

Re:The Essex Boys: how nine traders hit a gusher with negati... by joejohnson on Saturday December 19, 2020 @06:36PM (#25482353)
When did they buy these oil futures which they were selling throughout the day?
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Re:The Essex Boys: how nine traders hit a gusher with negati... by usefulcat on Saturday December 19, 2020 @07:49PM (#25482832)
It may have been more or less at the same time. Commit to buy X shares at the close; sell X shares now. Or vice versa.
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Re:The Essex Boys: how nine traders hit a gusher with negati... by retube on Sunday December 20, 2020 @12:57PM (#25488125)
A futures "buy" is not an actual buy. Its an agreement to buy at some agreed price at some point in the future. So they entered into agreements to sell during the day, then effectively covered that commitment by entering into agreements to buy at the end of the day.
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