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(04-24-2020 11:01 PM)toml_12953 Wrote: [ -> ]A friend of mine bought futures on a tanker full of oil. He delayed too long to sell it off and the tanker docked and he had a tanker full of oil he couldn't get rid of. Not only was he stuck with the oil, he had to pay the all the fees for each day the tanker was docked. A few million dollars later he managed to sell the oil.

Sounds like playing hot potato with a hand grenade...

Bloomberg Bussinessweek (Aug 10,2020): London Traders Hit $500 Million Jackpot When Oil Went Negative

Trading at Settlement, or TAS, with buyers and sellers agree to futures contract,
*without* knowing the price, but a settlement price well in the future.

Quote:settlement price is based on a volume-weighted average of trades occurring in the two minutes before 2:30 p.m.

This futures game is more like poker, and not much related to supply/demand.