‘It’s all fear and headlines’: energy traders race to keep pace with volatile oil markets

Market volatility caused by Middle East conflict exposes energy traders to heavy losses and rumours of insider trading at the highest level

On the weekend that US-Israeli drones first began to rain down on Tehran, energy traders across the world’s major financial centres began to redraw their strategies.

When they returned to their trading desks on that March Monday morning, they found oil and gas prices spiking amid a market nightmare made real: the unprecedented shutdown of the vital trade route through the strait of Hormuz.