Is something big happening again? The move of the largest crude oil ETF in the United States has attracted attention

The United States Oil Fund (USO), the largest oil ETF in the United States, is reverting to a pre-COVID-19 pandemic investment strategy that drew scrutiny from regulators and roiled the market in 2020, credited with being one of the behind the shocking negative oil price event!

The $1.20 billion USO will reallocate most of its positions to near-term oil futures contracts starting in September, rather than spreading risk exposure across the entire futures curve.

On the eve of the negative oil price event in April 2020, USO also decided to get together and bet on near-term oil contracts. At that time, the size of USO had soared to more than $3 billion, and the proportion of recent oil contracts held in all positions was as high as 20% -25%. After the oil price crash, USO's sell-off pushed the WTI crude oil futures benchmark contract to the brink, and CME later ordered USO to reallocate funds.

At present, contracts expiring in October 2023 account for approximately 20% of USO positions, November contracts account for 20%, December contracts account for 15%, January 2024 contracts account for 15%, February contracts account for 10%, March contracts account for 5%, and June contracts account for 15%.

The USO said in a recent statement,Industrial foreign exchangeInvestors judge that it retains the ability to invest in other products such as later-dated contracts and over-the-counter swaps if market conditions, regulatory requirements, or other factors warrant it.