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Speculative trading and oil price dynamic: A study of the WTI market

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  • Hache, Emmanuel
  • Lantz, Frédéric

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the oil price dynamic in West Texas Intermediate (WTI) market in the US. By using statistical and econometric tools, we first attempt to identify the long term relationship between WTI spot prices and the prices of futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Subsequently we model the short term dynamic between these two prices and this analysis points up several breaks. On this basis, a short term Markov Switching Vectorial Error Correction model (MS-VECM) with two distinct states (standard state and crisis state) has been estimated. Finally we introduce the volumes of transactions observed on the NYMEX for the WTI contracts and we estimate the influence of the non-commercial players. We conclude that the hypothesis of an influence of non-commercial players on the probability for being in the crisis state cannot be rejected. In addition, we show that the rise in liquidity of the first financial contracts, as measured by the volume of open interest, is a key element to understand the dynamics in market prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Hache, Emmanuel & Lantz, Frédéric, 2013. "Speculative trading and oil price dynamic: A study of the WTI market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 334-340.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:36:y:2013:i:c:p:334-340
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2012.09.002
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    Cited by:

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    3. Dowling, Michael & Cummins, Mark & Lucey, Brian M., 2016. "Psychological barriers in oil futures markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 293-304.
    4. Zhang, Yue-Jun, 2013. "Speculative trading and WTI crude oil futures price movement: An empirical analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 394-402.
    5. Vincent Brémond & Emmanuel Hache & Marc Joëts, 2013. "On the link between oil and commodity prices: a panel VAR approach," Working Papers hal-02474855, HAL.
    6. Zhang, Dayong & Wang, Tiantian & Shi, Xunpeng & Liu, Jia, 2018. "Is hub-based pricing a better choice than oil indexation for natural gas? Evidence from a multiple bubble test," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 495-503.
    7. Kyrtsou, Catherine & Mikropoulou, Christina & Papana, Angeliki, 2016. "Does the S&P500 index lead the crude oil dynamics? A complexity-based approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 239-246.
    8. Liu, Li & Wang, Yudong & Wu, Chongfeng & Wu, Wenfeng, 2016. "Disentangling the determinants of real oil prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 363-373.
    9. Ma, Yu & Zhang, Yang & Ji, Qiang, 2021. "Do oil shocks affect Chinese bank risk?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    10. Vincent Brémond & Emmanuel Hache & Tovonony Razafindrabe, 2015. "On the link between oil price and exchange rate : A time-varying VAR parameter approach," Working Papers hal-03206684, HAL.
    11. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2014. "Switching impacts of the output gap on inflation: Evidence from Canada, the UK and the US," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 270-285.
    12. Yin, Libo & Zhou, Yimin, 2016. "What drives long-term oil market volatility? Fundamentals versus speculation," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 10, pages 1-26.
    13. Demirer, Rıza & Jategaonkar, Shrikant P. & Khalifa, Ahmed A.A., 2015. "Oil price risk exposure and the cross-section of stock returns: The case of net exporting countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 132-140.
    14. Fizaine, Florian, 2018. "Toward generalization of futures contracts for raw materials: A probabilistic answer applied to metal markets," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 379-388.
    15. Wang, Lu & Ma, Feng & Niu, Tianjiao & Liang, Chao, 2021. "The importance of extreme shock: Examining the effect of investor sentiment on the crude oil futures market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Shao, Liuguo & Zhang, Hua & Chen, Jinyu & Zhu, Xuehong, 2021. "Effect of oil price uncertainty on clean energy metal stocks in China: Evidence from a nonparametric causality-in-quantiles approach," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 407-419.
    17. Shi, Xunpeng & Shen, Yifan, 2021. "Macroeconomic uncertainty and natural gas prices: Revisiting the Asian Premium," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    18. Donald Lien & Ziling Wang & Xiaojian Yu, 2021. "Optimal quantile hedging under Markov regime switching," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 2177-2201, May.
    19. Zhou, Liyun & Zhang, Rixin & Huang, Jialiang, 2019. "Investor trading behavior on agricultural future prices," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 365-379.
    20. Yanhong Feng & Xiaolei Wang & Shuanglian Chen & Yanqiong Liu, 2022. "Impact of Oil Financialization on Oil Price Fluctuation: A Perspective of Heterogeneity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, June.
    21. Li, Haiqi & Kim, Hyung-Gun & Park, Sung Y., 2015. "The role of financial speculation in the energy future markets: A new time-varying coefficient approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 112-122.
    22. Chen, Yanhui & Zhang, Chuan & He, Kaijian & Zheng, Aibing, 2018. "Multi-step-ahead crude oil price forecasting using a hybrid grey wave model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 501(C), pages 98-110.
    23. Fizaine, Florian & Court, Victor, 2016. "Energy expenditure, economic growth, and the minimum EROI of society," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 172-186.
    24. Wirl, Franz, 2015. "Output adjusting cartels facing dynamic, convex demand under uncertainty: The case of OPEC," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 307-316.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Oil prices; Futures markets; Markov Switching Regime models; Speculation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies

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