For Creators of Giant Oil ETF, Troubles in Market Began a Decade Ago
Did the United States Oil Fund help break the oil market? Worries about the ETF’s size and complexity were years in the making.
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For ordinary investors, it was perhaps the most spectacular demonstration of the unique perils of trying to wager on the price of oil.
Last month, the mighty United States Oil Fund, a popular ETF tracking crude, became unmoored as prices fell to unthinkable levels. Leading up the crash, the fund, known by its ticker USO, alone held a quarter of all the soon-to-expire oil contracts in the futures market, alarming regulators and sparking accusations it exacerbated oil’s plunge below zero.