Bloomberg analysts: The crude oil ETF USO's daily trading volume exceeded $7.6 billion, setting a new historical high

Bloomberg ETF senior analyst Eric Balchunas posted on the X platform that the United States Oil Fund, an exchange-traded fund for crude oil in the U.S. stock market, has seen unusually high trading activity today. As of 11:30 AM Eastern Time, the daily trading volume has exceeded $7.6 billion, breaking its historical single-day trading record, far surpassing the trading volume levels during the severe fluctuations in the oil market in 2020 and 2022.

Analysis suggests that this surge in trading may be driven by both professional traders and high-risk tolerant retail investors. USO is considered one of the stock-like assets most sensitive to oil prices, and thus tends to attract a large amount of short-term trading during periods of significant oil price volatility.

Eric Balchunas reminds that since USO primarily tracks oil prices by rolling futures contracts, long-term holding may be subject to erosion from roll costs, and there is also a risk of rapid price pullbacks in oil. Investors should be aware of the potential volatility.