Trump announced the U.S. has moved $13 billion worth of Venezuelan oil since capturing Maduro. Not since arresting Maduro. Since capturing him. Like a Pokémon.
The United States apparently seized control of Venezuela's energy exports at some point and nobody told you. Your technical analyst didn't mention it. Your financial advisor was too busy rebalancing your portfolio into a 60/40 split of misery and false hope. The headlines buried it somewhere between a Fed official's speech about data dependency and another article explaining why this time the inverted yield curve means something different.
Thirteen billion dollars. The government sold oil it took from another country and pocketed the cash. They've been running a state-owned oil trading desk this whole time. Every compliance officer at every broker-dealer is currently having a stroke trying to figure out which KYC form covers "we kidnapped a foreign leader and liquidated his nation's strategic assets."
But sure. Keep watching those Fibonacci retracements on your SPY chart. That's the edge you need. The real alpha was definitely not in noticing that the United States became an OPEC member through what international lawyers would call "aggressive acquisition tactics."
Maduro's presumably sitting in a room somewhere while Treasury officials update him daily on the trade blotter. "We hit a new VWAP on the Brent spread, Nicolás. Thought you'd want to know." He's learning technical analysis against his will. They're making him watch webinars about Elliott Wave theory as enhanced interrogation.
Retail traders spent the last few months arguing about whether the market's pricing in a soft landing while the government was quietly flipping Venezuelan crude for thirteen billion f*cking dollars.
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