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    How the world’s biggest oil trader makes his billions – Vitol Group. Part 4

    For Vitol, oil is just the beginning. The company mixes different types of fuel to obtain a product of exactly the right quality for a particular region, customer or even season. To guarantee an uninterrupted supply, Vitol pays in advance to companies such as Russia’s Rosneft, or to entire governments, such as the oil-rich Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. Having sold this oil, it will recoup all its costs a hundredfold. Craig Pirrong, professor of economics and finance at the University of Houston, says that while Vitol is perceived as a speculator, the company actually acts as a middleman. It turns supertankers into floating oil storage tanks, carefully timing the…

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    How the world’s biggest oil trader makes his billions – Vitol Group. Part 3

    Vitol in its current form began taking shape in 1990, when Dettinger and seven other partners sold the company for between $100m and $200m (the actual figures have not been disclosed) to a team of around 40 employees, including Taylor. The buyout was financed by Dutch bank ABN and former trader Tom Wonk took over as CEO. Since then, no single shareholder has controlled more than 5% of the company – Taylor and his team call this the “we culture” and claim it has been the cornerstone of Vitol’s success. Bake says: “If someone thinks they are bigger or better than all of us together, sooner or later they will…

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    How the world’s biggest oil trader makes his billions – Vitol Group. Part 2

    Vitol has not had a single loss-making year in its half-century history (the company will celebrate its 50th anniversary in August). According to Bloomberg Markets, its profits have risen from $22.9m in 1995 to a record $2.28bn in 2009. At its peak, Vitol’s return on equity was an unthinkable 56%. Even Wall Street pales next to such success: Goldman Sachs’ peak return on equity since its IPO in 1999 was 31%. Jean-François Lambert, who worked extensively with the company as head of global commodity markets and structured trade finance at HSBC, says: “Vitol has established itself as an energy trader at its most extreme. Journalists traced the history of Vitol’s…

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    How the world’s biggest oil trader makes his billions – Vitol Group. Part 1

    Taylor, chief executive of the Vitol Group, the world’s largest independent oil trader, caught himself thinking he would like to see a full-fledged jet fighter in the place of the drone accompanying him. The head of Vitol, Ian Taylor It was early 2011. Rebels opposed to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year dictatorship had just taken control of the city and appointed their own government. A meeting with this motley group of former military officials and local politicians was arranged surprisingly quickly, but Taylor realised that if anyone could make a deal with them, it would be Vitol. A few weeks ago, one of its top managers in Dubai, Christopher Baik, received…

  • Analytics

    Petroleum

    CL TF: Day Chart: market profile – range day – open/close Indicator VWAP + dev1/dev-1 Total Histogram (price/tf) Volume/Delta The specification and volatility of the CL futures contract is what led me to speculate on black gold. I won’t be trading CL this week and there are several reasons for that. Volatility is probably the most important thing about CL. Making good profits without waiting days for the required target is what’s stopping me from leaving the oil trading clan. The VWAP channel is already pointing to a narrowing of volatility and for good reason. This week is a holiday in the USA, Saudi Arabia and towards the end of…

  • Analytics,  VolFix

    21.02.23 S&P500-Futures

    Gestern war in den USA ein Feiertag. Heute – aktuelle Levels für Spekulationen bei E-mini S&P500-Futures für den Beginn der Trading-Woche. Wahrscheinliche Szenarien für die Entwicklung der Vermögenswerte können nach der heutigen Handelssession in Betracht gezogen werden (auf der Grundlage des Auftretens von Ereignissen mit großem Volumen und der Reaktion der Quoten auf diese).

  • Analytics,  VolFix

    DAX index – YTD

      DAX Index – volume analysis 15.02.2022 to the current day. I am now considering this particular futures contract as there is a possibility that the index is preparing to make a new high. Why not use such an opportunity. On slide №1 – the index quote has not only returned to its yearly highs, but is successfully expanding the range further. If we look at the total volume and the imbalance of each day of the last month, we can conclude that there is still room for a new high. In addition, the barometer of German economy is holding the price on the highs with a great deal of…

  • Analytics,  VolFix

    CL – continuation

    ​ The price of a barrel of oil is influenced by a huge number of factors. With the development of technology, people have adapted to take into account almost all of the available ones, except force majeure and human factors. On the second slide is a map of levels and volume profile bars for the daily timeframe. In the last review I described a scenario which is now fully worked out and the price of black gold has reached its target. The EU leaders’ summit and the decisions made could end up having a big impact on the trend. This is one of the reasons that makes oil traders slow down at…

  • Analytics,  VolFix

    CL – Day timeframe: res/sup

    Every speculator’s strategy is the same – “Buy low, sell high”. A barrel of oil was $10 cheaper – a great opportunity for speculation. From Monday to Friday, session after session the price fell, keeping its rhythm 2 productive days, then unloading and again. Let’s analyze the delta trend from January 23 to February 3 (lower histogram shows the total delta and % of imbalance for the day]. On the 23rd of January the volume activity of the sellers exceeded the activity of the buyers by 2500 contracts. 2-2.5k and the total imbalance by delta, I mean timeframe of the day, is sufficient to maintain a unidirectional trend. Also note…

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    EURO – iceberg order

    A few days ago (31.01) after the opening of the European stock markets, at the local low, there was a level where the big guys were trading with Iceberg-orders. I immediately used this opportunity to make a buy trade, which is still accompanying at the moment. Tick Chart level 1.084 Note the ticks at this price. The imbalance filter is highlighted in green and the values in these ticks are total volume. And the buyer/seller delta in each tick is on the buyer’s side. A large order – sell limit was already seen at 02:40. It’s not hard to spot – look closely, the buyers couldn’t even push the price…