Oil-Related Stocks Rise in Late-Day Price Spikes

Seven oil- and gas-related stocks saw brief price spikes in the closing minutes of U.S. trading Tuesday, the latest sign of unusual activity that has unnerved some market participants.

All of the affected stocks quickly reversed those gains, and each closed within 2% of the prices at which they began the day.

The activity led to an investigation by exchange operators such as Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ) NYSE Euronext (NYSE) and Direct Edge Holdings LLC, which sent advisories to traders noting the unusual activity was “potentially erroneous.” The exchanges later said trades in the affected stocks would stand.

Via – WSJ MarketBeat

Crude Oil prices has been relatively volatile these 2 days due to erratic behaviors. However if we take a macro perspective, you will notice that Crude has been stuck in a range between 112 and 117 for the past 4 weeks.

BCO/USD H4

With the odd exception on post QE3 price action, 117 has been acting as a very strong resistance.

BCO/USD Daily

If we take a look at ATR, we can see that though prices are indeed more volatile, we are nowhere close to the volatility experienced during mid June to July 2012. Hence though recent price actions are peculiar to say the least, we are actually quite far off from what Oil is fully capable of. In the meantime, short-term traders will enjoy riding the waves up and down between 112 and 117 as long as this trading band holds. Enjoy while it last.

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