And yet, there were no profits to be had. Volumes were astronomical and growing daily. Volatility, which was normally the lifeblood for profits, had never been greater. But it was a confusing time for the career oil trader on the floor. The final stage of my career began in 2006, when markets began shifting to electronic venues, and OTC markets began to really swell. Opportunities, both to win and lose, arrived practically daily. Enormous daily volumes and movement began to come into our oil markets, and we finally began to live the dream that most people imagine when they think of oil traders. These were the golden days for us on the floor-from about 2000 until around 2006. In the second part of my career, the world began to see oil as a financial opportunity, although they first struggled with how best to capture it. In those days, the trick was surviving long enough to see the good days ahead. We’d wait for something to happen and take advantage of the spurts of interest and motion. After all, if nothing much moves, how can you make money? It’s tough, believe me. So our days were an endless string of small volumes and small ranges. Nobody outside of the oil companies and our small band of traders cared much at all about oil. Why was that? Well, simply put, it was about volume and volatility. Statistically, only 15% of those who tried to be floor traders during this time period were able to survive for more than five years. In my earliest days, from 1983 until about 2000, it was very difficult surviving as a day trader in oil. Describing how things used to work will quickly show you why. In the first 20 or so years of my career as a trader, the oil markets worked much better-at least for consumers and the economy at large it provided much steadier and generally much, much cheaper prices. The oil markets have become broken, but they weren’t always. Read moreĪ Brief Look Back at the Good Old Days of Oil TradingĪn old cliché says: To know where you’re going, you have to know where you’ve been.

Written by an industry insider, Oil's Endless Bid analyzes the biggest financial story of the last ten years?how we lost control of our oil markets. Describes how the United States is unnecessarily handing its wealth over to foreign oil producers during a time when the potential supply of oil is greater than ever.Details how the novel, but wrong, idea of oil as an asset class took a sleepy, club-like market into the national spotlight.

Reveals why oil prices cannot stabilize without dramatic action on the part of both government and business.

In Oil's Endless Bid: Taming the Unreliable Price of Energy to Secure Our Economy, energy analyst Dan Dicker recalls his experiences as an oil trader and reveals the changes that have taken place in the oil markets during the past twenty years, and particularly the last five, as investment banks, energy hedge funds, and managed futures funds have come to dominate energy trading and wreak havoc on prices. The price of oil is negatively impacting both companies and consumers.

Expert analysis of rising oil prices and the out-of-control oil markets that jeopardize both national security and the economy

Lyn alden oil