As market traders ponder why President Donald Trump could have lied about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz last week, Peter Schiff, the Chief Economist and Global Strategist at Europac, has provided his opinion.
The popular gold investor and Bitcoin (BTC) skeptic stated that President Trump could be engaging in market manipulation or demonstrating incompetence. Furthermore, on Friday, the crypto market and major stock indexes experienced higher volatility, leading to heightened liquidations, driven by ungrounded announcements. Additionally, oil prices fell sharply as investors heavily shorted the commodity, only to reset over the weekend.
“The most likely explanation for Trump’s Truth Social lies about Iran on Friday is market manipulation. If so, Trump insiders must have made billions. The next likely possibility is that Trump is either delusional, incompetent, or a combination of both. Either way, it’s not good,” Schiff noted.
Notably, President Trump posted on his Truth Social that the Strait of Hormuz was completely open and ready for business following an agreement with Iran, as Finbold reported. However, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the current speaker of Iran’s parliament, announced over the weekend that President Trump made seven false claims in one hour.
White House dismisses claims of market manipulation
The White House has faced mounting pressure as markets show signs of insider trading amid President Trump’s announcements. For instance, earlier this month, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to Michael Selig, the current Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), requesting an investigation into potential insider trading from President Trump’s circle.
Furthermore, on March 23, oil futures surged in the minutes before Trump posted on Truth Social about potential de-escalation talks with Iran. Similarly, on April 7, Senator Warren noted that traders placed roughly $950 million in bearish oil bets in the hours before the president announced a ceasefire with Iran, which drove crude prices down by approximately 15%.
However, the White House has denied claims of insider trading through President Trump’s announcements. White House spokesperson Kush Desai recently argued that any report that officials are engaged in insider trading is false and baseless.
