A timeline of how the Iran war shook oil prices — and what comes next

The ongoing conflict in Iran has led to significant fluctuations in oil prices, driven by concerns over supply disruptions in a region critical to global energy markets. The market transmission mechanism primarily involves risk appetite, as geopolitical tensions elevate fears of potential supply shortages, prompting traders to react to volatility in crude oil futures. Oil markets, particularly Brent and WTI, remain highly exposed due to their reliance on Middle Eastern production, with any escalation in hostilities likely to exacerbate price swings. Traders will be closely watching upcoming OPEC meetings and U.S. inventory reports for indications of supply adjustments or changes in production levels that could further influence oil prices.

Crude oil (WTI/Brent) reacts in real time to OPEC+ production decisions, EIA weekly inventory reports, geopolitical supply disruptions (Middle East, Russia, Venezuela) and US Strategic Petroleum Reserve announcements. A 5% intraday move on breaking news is not unusual.

HIGH-impact news is typically a market-moving event with multi-pip or multi-percent intraday reactions. Examples include central bank rate decisions, major CPI/NFP releases, geopolitical shocks, mega-cap earnings beats/misses, and regulatory announcements. Traders typically position-reduce or hedge ahead of scheduled HIGH-impact events, and follow the wire in real time to react to unscheduled ones (war headlines, central-bank emergency statements, surprise corporate actions). The Trading News Terminal squawk box reads every HIGH-impact headline aloud the moment it hits the wire — so active traders don't have to stare at the feed.

Active traders typically follow a three-step workflow when a market-moving headline hits the wire: (1) read the headline on the terminal or hear it on the squawk box; (2) assess whether the news is already priced in (by checking intraday price action in the seconds before) or whether it's genuinely new information; (3) act — either entering a breakout position, fading an overreaction, or tightening stops on existing trades. Trading News Terminal's Pro plan delivers wire-grade headlines within seconds of the source, with automatic audio squawk on every HIGH-impact event, so the read-assess-act cycle never waits on a refresh button.