Stats › Bear markets and drawdowns › Negative oil, April 2020
Oil went from zero to minus 39.55 dollars in twenty minutes and the official report names no cause
| Moment | Price or value |
|---|---|
| Session open, 20 April 2020 | 17.73 dollars |
| First negative print, about 14:08 | below zero, the first in 37 years |
| 14:08 to 14:28 | zero to -39.55 dollars in twenty minutes |
| Intraday low, 14:29 | -40.32 dollars |
| Distance from the session open | 58.05 dollars |
| Settlement | -37.63 dollars |
| Return above zero | about 20:04 the same evening |
| Final expiry price, 21 April | 10.01 dollars |
| The spread to the next month | -6.76 to -58.06 dollars |
From the regulator's interim staff report of 23 November 2020 on the expiring May 2020 light sweet crude contract. The settlement price is the volume weighted average of accumulated calendar spread transactions between 14:28 and 14:30, not of outright trades. No significance test appears anywhere in the report.
On 20 April 2020 the expiring crude contract traded below zero for the first time in 37 years, reaching minus 40.32 dollars. The regulator's own report describes contributing factors and explicitly does not identify a root cause.
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