Nine independent traders in Essex made between $30m and $100m each
Group including Paul ‘Cuddles’ Commins are mainly people in their 20s and 30s
Traders are affiliated with Vega Capital London, which has a small Essex office
So-called oil oiks claim they legally bought oil futures knowing price would fall
Phenomena of negative oil prices on April 20 meant traders got paid fortunes
ILLUSTRATION: SOPHY HOLLINGTON FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
By Liam Vaughan, Kit Chellel, and Benjamin BainDecember 10, 2020, 12:01 AM EST
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Among the many previously unthinkable moments of 2020, one of the strangest occurred on April 20, when the price of crude oil fell below zero. West Texas Intermediate futures, the most popular instrument used to trade the commodity, had started the day at $18 a barrel. That was already low, but prices kept tumbling until, at 2:08 p.m. New York time, they went negative.
Amazingly, that meant anyone selling oil had to pay someone else to take it off their hands. Then the crude market collapsed completely, falling almost $40 in 20 minutes, to close at –$38. It was the lowest price for oil in the 138-year history of the New York Mercantile Exchange and in all likelihood the lowest price in the millennia since humans first began burning the stuff for heat and light.