According to reports, on March 23, US President Trump dropped the threat of attacking Iran's power plants. This news triggered sharp trading fluctuations in crude oil, stocks, and other markets. Traders have long been accustomed to sharp price fluctuations caused by news about the situation in the Middle East, but at that time, some traders accurately hit the right moment. Just 15 minutes before Trump announced a policy shift on the Truth social platform, the market saw multi-billion dollar contract bets: bearish on crude oil and bullish on the S&P 500. The incident sparked widespread speculation, and it was suspected that someone had obtained an unfair information advantage. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is responsible for investigating the incident. With the rise of the cryptocurrency and prediction market, the federal derivatives regulator's scope and attention have increased dramatically. A team of senior forensic analysts within the committee collated daily market profit and loss transaction data according to normal procedures. According to people familiar with the matter, analysts from the market supervision department submitted case handover materials to the law enforcement department based on the observed transaction timing and transaction subject information, and the law enforcement department decided whether to launch a full investigation into potential insider trading. People familiar with the matter said that representatives from the two departments also held meetings to discuss the best ways to collaborate. According to people familiar with the matter, what happened next was extremely unusual: Mel Gunawardner, a senior adviser to CFTC chairman Michael Seliger appointed by Trump, asked a director of the market supervision team to withdraw the materials handed over in this case. According to people familiar with the matter, the team was overwhelmed at the time. On a practical level, they don't even know how to implement this requirement; this kind of operation has almost never happened before. On the other hand, this incident also breaks convention: in the past, senior professionals were responsible for professional and routine tasks such as collecting massive data and writing preliminary reports, and then law enforcement lawyers decided whether to file a case for investigation. People familiar with the matter said that now, an adviser to the politically-appointed official Selig has stepped in with the intention of withdrawing the handover materials in this case and personally supervising the data collection process. Gunawardner is a Wall Street veteran who served in the CFTC during Trump's first term; he returned to the agency a few weeks ago as head of the Office of International Affairs and senior marketing adviser to the chairman. It is unclear what kind of authority he has in this evidence gathering process.

According to reports, on March 23, US President Trump dropped the threat of attacking Iran's power plants. This news triggered sharp trading fluctuations in crude oil, stocks, and other markets. Traders have long been accustomed to sharp price fluctuations caused by news about the situation in the Middle East, but at that time, some traders accurately hit the right moment. Just 15 minutes before Trump announced a policy shift on the Truth social platform, the market saw multi-billion dollar contract bets: bearish on crude oil and bullish on the S&P 500. The incident sparked widespread speculation, and it was suspected that someone had obtained an unfair information advantage. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is responsible for investigating the incident. With the rise of the cryptocurrency and prediction market, the federal derivatives regulator's scope and attention have increased dramatically. A team of senior forensic analysts within the committee collated daily market profit and loss transaction data according to normal procedures. According to people familiar with the matter, analysts from the market supervision department submitted case handover materials to the law enforcement department based on the observed transaction timing and transaction subject information, and the law enforcement department decided whether to launch a full investigation into potential insider trading. People familiar with the matter said that representatives from the two departments also held meetings to discuss the best ways to collaborate. According to people familiar with the matter, what happened next was extremely unusual: Mel Gunawardner, a senior adviser to CFTC chairman Michael Seliger appointed by Trump, asked a director of the market supervision team to withdraw the materials handed over in this case. According to people familiar with the matter, the team was overwhelmed at the time. On a practical level, they don't even know how to implement this requirement; this kind of operation has almost never happened before. On the other hand, this incident also breaks convention: in the past, senior professionals were responsible for professional and routine tasks such as collecting massive data and writing preliminary reports, and then law enforcement lawyers decided whether to file a case for investigation. People familiar with the matter said that now, an adviser to the politically-appointed official Selig has stepped in with the intention of withdrawing the handover materials in this case and personally supervising the data collection process. Gunawardner is a Wall Street veteran who served in the CFTC during Trump's first term; he returned to the agency a few weeks ago as head of the Office of International Affairs and senior marketing adviser to the chairman. It is unclear what kind of authority he has in this evidence gathering process.