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Market Extra
Traders point to suspicious activity in the oil market on Wednesday
Oil contracts worth $1.7 billion changed hands in the hour before an Axios report sent oil prices lower Wednesday. Some experts are calling the spike in activity suspicious.
Published: May 6, 2026 at 6:36 p.m. ETShareResize
(4 min)
Some said a spike in trading volume in the oil market on Wednesday looked suspicious. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Trading volume in U.S. crude-oil futures suddenly spiked early Wednesday in the hour before a media report sent prices tumbling — the latest in a pattern of suspicious activity in the market for oil futures that has emerged since the start of the conflict in Iran.
At around 4:50 a.m. Eastern time, Axios published a report, citing U.S. officials, that the White House believed the U.S. and Iran were nearing a deal on a one-page memorandum to end the fighting and set a framework for future talks toward a nuclear deal.