Short sellers heavily bet on a crash in crude oil, most facing significant losses

MeNews · 2026-04-09T08:12:10+00:00

A group of crude oil traders heavily shorted bets on falling oil prices, resulting in most incurring losses. ETF investors poured a record $977 million into SCO, but the fund still declined 41% in March. Meanwhile, long-position funds also set records, leading to a highly polarized market.

MeNews

2026-04-09 08:12:10

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ME News update: On April 2 (UTC+8), a group of crude oil traders moved aggressively to short, betting that oil prices would fall back from war-driven highs, but so far most traders have suffered severe setbacks. Data show that in March, ETF investors poured $977 million into the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (SCO), marking the largest net inflow in a single month since the fund was launched in 2008. SCO provides twice the inverse return of daily crude oil price moves. Despite record inflows, SCO’s total assets are still only $970 million, lower than the total inflow amount for the full month.

Asym 500 founder Rocky Fishman said, “This is a bet that ‘the war will end soon.’” After President Trump once again hinted that the Iran war could be over, the fund rose 8%, but it still fell 41% in March, posting its worst performance in nearly six years. However, short positioning is only half the story—long funds also hit records. The United States Oil Fund (USO) attracted about $700 million in March, the largest single-month inflow since the pandemic, while the US Brent crude oil fund (BNO) pulled in $600 million, the highest in history. The market is highly polarized, with leveraged capital hedging bets on both sides. (Jin10) (Source: ODAILY)

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