Oil ETF Crisis Spreads to Hong Kong as Fund Tumbles 46%

  • Samsung crude fund’s assets slumped 26% Tuesday amid U.S. rout
  • Storage shortage has ETFs moving away from near-term contracts
Biggest U.S. Crude-Tracking ETF Suspends New Share Sales as Oil Prices Collapse
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The unprecedented drop in U.S. oil futures is rippling through the world’s exchange-traded fund market, with the latest example in Hong Kong.

The Samsung S&P GSCI Crude Oil ER Futures ETF, whose holdings of the derivatives slumped 26% on Tuesday to $378 million, saw its traded units lose half their value for a time Wednesday. Closing down 46% at HK$1.79, the ETF had its biggest drop and lowest finish since trading began in May 2016. Volume was 720 million units, 15 times the three-month daily average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. There were 1.7 billion units outstanding as of Tuesday, according to an exchange filing Wednesday afternoon.