4 ms·

So does this mean that without bids there are potentially many traders, not refiners or tank farms, holding those contracts still? That those traders will get s

So does this mean that without bids there are potentially many traders, not refiners or tank farms, holding those contracts still? That those traders will get stuck with taking delivery because they couldn't unload their contracts?

tempsy 7y ago
Yes
- mcv 7y ago
  People with just a paper office, used to deal in numbers rather than anything physical, and with no place to store physical goods, will now have to figure out where and how to store lots of oil?
  - simonh 7y ago
    They would if they didn’t offload the contracts somehow, hence the negative prices. They are paying to get rid of that obligation.
  - dmurray 7y ago
    No. Their prime brokers will force them to sell it at the low (negative) price.
  - riskneutral 7y ago
    They already know how to store lots of oil. They can and do rent supertankers for example.
  - hermitdev 6y ago
    Having worked in the finance industry my entire career, most (responsible) firms have means for dealing with taking physical delivery. Less responsible firms, not so much and may be royally screwed if they have to take delivery. I've heard anecdotally of a firm that had to take physical delivery of a shipment of coal. They didn't have plans in place, but because they had an address on a river, the coal arrived via barge. No, I don't recall the name of the firm, and yes, it's just an anecdote/hearsay.
    - Arcorann 6y ago
      As told on the Daily WTF: https://thedailywtf.com/articles/special-delivery https://thedailywtf.com/articles/special-delivery
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - agurk 6y ago
      That story, or at least a very similar one is documented on the the daily WTF: https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Special-Delivery https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Special-Delivery I've no idea if it is true, but it makes for a funny story at least.