mididoctors (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

that is correct in so much as the last day comes round every month... so those contracts that where bought "back in the day" still win or lose on the spot "religion finding moment" price.. if they buy into the future and the price collapses they lose out.. which is what happened...in essence its a bet on the spot price at the contracts end and thats all there is to it..

schausm (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

Santelli's fighting for the confronting of the "religion finding period", the other side is fighting for the "there's a never a last day."The fact is that the contract is only representative of ACTUAL OIL at some point. The contract is a piece of paper. Santelli is arguing that the contact ONLY has value inasmuch as it's connected to that real OIL. The more it's rolled forward and forward into the future, the more distorted the price gets, until the last day..

crock703 (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

For the sake of fun..You suspect that deregulation opened the door to create instability in the financial system and break the dollar, driving investors to hide in commodities, a number of big speculators really moved the price initially (and the latecomers followed suit otherwise they'd be selling at a loss), with the end result being that the average consumer suddenly see the value in demanding alternative energy, and it becomes worthwhile for investors?

crock703 (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

The drop in oil prices that happened recently - maybe around when AIG fell, or the bailout talk started - wasn't short selling banned then? Was that the cause of the drop in price?

crock703 (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

At the end of the line - the gas pump - the gas station owner sets the price THAT day. So regardless of what contract ends up being ultimately, when CNBC screams "$120 a barrel!", the manager goes outside and changes the sign, and people say "damn, it was $3.50 today!" "wow, really? I did hear that oil hit some new high at $120 a barrel or whatever, guess that's why."Am I wrong?

crock703 (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

Hey, layman here, but..If something like a war or some other tumultuous event causes oil extraction & delivery to be impeded, speculators are pretty safe in betting that supply will decline, right? - then low supply & speculation drive the price up.If people are hiding in commodities from a weak dollar (expecting it to melt), then they'll keep sitting there until they can measure the global fallout of this 'economic crisis' & move their assets into the safe survivors.lame, I bet. comments?

maunaowakea777 (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

they put 60 BILLION dollars in futures contracts. they took 40 billion out in the last few months and THAT is what caused prices to drop from 147 to 92.00get real!

AirelonTrading (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

Replying with a video, that agrees with this video. It's not to disagree with the above video - but to confirm it's thesis. It's to spread the message.SPECULATORS CANNOT PARTICIPATE IN THE CASH SPOT MARKET - WHICH THE SPECULATORS FOLLOW!

AirelonTrading (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

You're insane. You don't even understand that speculators CANNOT AFFECT THE CASH MARKET, AND ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DAY TO DAY CASH MARKET - WHICH DETERMINES PRICE.watch?v=Wgd3Zf8-pOcFutures speculation on expiration of a contract, as Rick states, follows whatever the underlying is dictating. The underlying is the spot cash market.

Nostams (January 1, 1970 at 12:59 am)

Speculation has a minimal impact which is what Santelli confirms. Oil is a supply and demand issue. Plain and simple.