Not Everyone is Losing Money

Original: Not Everyone is Losing Money

Pure traders are the only ones left standing in the crude oil speculation business now that oil prices have collapsed, sending hedge funds, college endowments and pension funds scampering. And these traders have found a new way to make solid double-digit profits. It's called betting on the contango.

What's contango? It's when the market as a whole bets that oil prices are going to steadily rise well into the future, and traders react by buying two contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- say, one for the purchase of oil next month at $41.24 a barrel, and a second contract to sell it in Februar