{"id":2584842,"date":"2026-03-28T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T13:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/traders-made-hundreds-of-millions-in-suspiciously-timed-iran-bets\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T09:18:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T13:18:43","slug":"traders-made-hundreds-of-millions-in-suspiciously-timed-iran-bets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/traders-made-hundreds-of-millions-in-suspiciously-timed-iran-bets\/","title":{"rendered":"Traders Made Hundreds of Millions in Suspiciously Timed Iran Bets"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftraders-made-hundreds-of-millions-in-suspiciously-timed-iran-bets%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2584842&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Financial Times report describes a burst of oil market activity just before a U.S.-Iran conversation was announced by President Trump. In about two minutes around 6:49 a.m. ET, traders dealt more than 6,000 Brent and WTI futures contracts-worth roughly $580 million in total-raising questions about potential insider facts, since the announcement came at 7:23 a.m.ET that morning. Both benchmarks jumped in the same moment, and it\u2019s not clear whether one or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nyc-theater-censors-abortion-expose-while-running-play-about-sexualized-young-girls-and-hitler\/\" title=\"NYC Theater Censors Abortion Expos\u00e9 While Running Play About Sexualized Young Girls And Hitler\">multiple actors<\/a> placed the trades.economists and commentators cited the unusual nature of the move, with some suggesting implications for markets and governance, including a remark about accountability in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-bungles-history-again-says-he-spoke-with-dead-german-chancellor\/\" title=\"Biden Bungles History Again, Says He Spoke With Dead German Chancellor\">widely shared post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The piece also notes related bets on political events via Polymarket. One trader reportedly earned about $1 million from five-figure bets on the U.S. and\/or Israel taking action against Iran, with a 93% success rate, while another user won around $400,000 from a bet that Nicol\u00e1s Maduro would be out of power. Experts interviewed in the article view such activity as indicative of insider signaling and market manipulation risk. The coverage is published by the Daily Caller News Foundation and includes commentary on the broader signaling from on-chain betting markets.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Stock traders made oil bets totaling in the nine figures in a two-minute period just over a half hour before President Donald Trump revealed there had been &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/calculating-the-human-toll-of-the-us-exit-from-afghanistan-three-years-later-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Calculating the human toll of the US exit from Afghanistan three years later - Washington Examiner\">productive conversations&#038;rdquo<\/a>; between the U.S. and Iran, the Financial Times (FT) reported.<\/p>\n<p>Traders dealt more than 6,000 Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures contracts &mdash; collectively worth $580 million &mdash; between 6:49 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. ET Monday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/1171d623-3709-4f6e-8ded-a5df4ec57696?syn-25a6b1a6=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according<\/a> to the FT. At 7:23 a.m., Trump sent a  post announcing the conversations between the two nations, which have been engaged in a war since Feb. 28.<\/p>\n<p>Brent and WTI are the two <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >main global oil price benchmarks<\/a>. Both benchmarks&rsquo; trading values leaped simultaneously at 6:49 a.m., per the FT. It remains unknown whether one or multiple actors engaged in the trades, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If nobody goes to jail for this, we&rsquo;ve entered the &lsquo;every man for himself&rsquo; stage of empire decline,&rdquo; economist Chris Martenson remarked in a Wednesday X post sharing the FT&rsquo;s headline.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">If nobody goes to jail for this, we&rsquo;ve entered the &lsquo;every man for himself&rsquo; stage of empire decline. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GQGvSfMw1V\">pic.twitter.com\/GQGvSfMw1V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chris Martenson (@chrismartenson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismartenson\/status\/2036606225287201100?\">March 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I am pleased to report that the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East,&rdquo; the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-more-votes-than-voters-in-key-swing-states\/\" title=\"...: More Votes Than Voters in Key Swing States\">president wrote<\/a> in the Monday morning  <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/116278232362967212\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-mrf-link=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/116278232362967212\">post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Based on the tenor and tone of these in depth, detailed, and constructive conversations, which will continue throughout the week, I have instructed the department of war to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions,&rdquo; he added in the post.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The White House does not tolerate any administration official illegally profiteering off of insider knowledge, and any implication that officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting,&rdquo; White House spokesman Kush Desai told the FT.<\/p>\n<p>A portfolio manager at a hedge fund told the outlet that the thousands of futures being traded at once early on a Monday morning was &ldquo;really abnormal&rdquo; based on his &ldquo;gut from watching markets for the last 25 years.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an unusually large trade for a day with no event risk,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Somebody just got a lot richer.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>This is not the first time that traders reportedly made significant bets in relation to a foreign policy development.<\/p>\n<p>One trader made a total of $1 million from a series of multiple five-figure bets on the popular prediction website Polymarket predicting the U.S. and\/or Israel will take military action against Iran, CNN <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/03\/24\/politics\/iran-war-bets-prediction-markets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a> Tuesday. The individual had a 93% success rate in his or her bets.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;All of this is strong signaling of insider activity, based on the amount they made, the markets they bet on, the timing of their trades, the success rates of these trades, and the fact that they are connected on-chain,&rdquo; Nick Vaiman, the CEO of blockchain analytics software Bubblemaps, told CNN.<\/p>\n<p>Another Polymarket user won $400,000 due to a Jan. 2 bet he made that Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicol&aacute;s Maduro would be out of power by the end of the month. U.S. forces captured and removed Maduro the following morning.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a concise paraphrase of the main points:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; In a two-minute span around 6:49-6:50 am ET, traders placed oil bets totaling about $580 million, trading more than 6,000 Brent and WTI futures contracts. This occurred roughly half an hour before President Trump announced that there had been \u201cproductive conversations\u201d with Iran.<br \/>\n&#8211; Both Brent and WTI prices jumped at that same 6:49 am moment. It isn\u2019t clear who executed the trades or how many traders were involved.<br \/>\n&#8211; At 7:23 am, Trump posted about ongoing conversations with Iran and said he had ordered a pause on military strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure for five days, contingent on the talks continuing. The White House later said it does not tolerate insider profiteering and dismissed claims of officials profiting from inside information.<br \/>\n&#8211; A hedge fund portfolio manager called the large, early-morning futures activity \u201creally abnormal\u201d for a day without any obvious event risk, suggesting that someone earned a significant windfall.<br \/>\n&#8211; This isn\u2019t the first time traders have made sizable bets tied to foreign-policy developments. For example, one Polymarket user reportedly earned about $1 million on bets related to potential U.S. or Israeli action against Iran, with a high success rate, and another user won roughly $400,000 on a bet about Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s ouster.<br \/>\n&#8211; The article notes the reporting originates from the Financial Times and is published by the Daily Caller News Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2584843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_7352.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[50410,10680,3823,10752,3855],"class_list":["post-2584842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-controversy-2","tag-finance","tag-iran","tag-markets","tag-trading"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_7352.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2584842"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2584846,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584842\/revisions\/2584846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2584843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2584842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2584842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2584842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}