Oil’s Wild Ride Is Driven by a Disruptive Band of Bot Traders

Trading oil has perhaps never been more of a roller coaster ride than it is today.

Just in the past two months, prices threatened to reach $100 per barrel, only to whipsaw into the $70s. On one day in October, they swung as much as 6%. And so far in 2023, futures have lurched by more than $2 a day 161 times, a massive jump from previous years.

What’s happening can’t be entirely explained by OPEC’s machinations, or war in the Middle East. While supply-and-demand fundamentals still dictate overall commodity price cycles, the day-to-day business of trading crude futures is increasingly dominated ...