Over the past two years, oil prices have been on a roller-coaster ride, from the dramatic peak of nearly $150 per barrel in July 2008 to a free-fall to just below $40 per barrel in January 2009. As oil prices have inched their way back up to nearly $75.00 barrel, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. regulator for financial commodity markets, is looking for solutions to address oil price volatility.

Speculation and its Impact on Oil Prices

Oil prices are driven, at least in part, by traditional supply and demand fundamentals. As global GDP increased in 2007 and the first half of 2008, demand for oil increased. At the same time, due to various constraints in global oil production, supply did not increase to match rising demand causing oil prices to rise.

However, market fundamentals are only part of the story. In recent years, oil markets have become increasingly “financialized” as investors have moved into energy commodities markets to take advantage of price changes or hedge against them. The average daily trading volume of oil futures rose from four times the average daily world demand for oil in 2002 to 15 times average daily world demand in 2008.

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