Trump turns the Middle East into Wall Street's playground? - You decide...
And was there someone who knew everything, but everything - in advance?
The bizarre story that unfolded behind the scenes last Friday
Friday - an hour and a half before the close:
CBS reported dramatically that President Trump was considering a ground entry of military forces directly into Iran.
This immediately created great tension among investors.
About an hour later, at 3:43 PM New York time, Trump stated that he was not interested in a ceasefire with Iran.
This statement caused the S&P 500 index to drop to its lowest level since the beginning of 2026.
And right here - something strange began...
Towards the close - the market changes direction.
The S&P 500 index jumped almost 1% from its low.
Long before any official news supporting this was published...
Suddenly, at the peak of pressure - the market starts to rise again.
At first, it looked like just a technical bounce - or volatility related to the expiration of derivatives that occurred on Friday.
And this is exactly where our story begins...
- Exactly 90 minutes after that Trump statement that sent the market down - a surprising turn of events occurred.
Trump reverses course and suddenly announces that the US is considering ending the war and reducing military presence in Iran.
In response to Trump's remarks - two hours after the close, the index completed an impressive 1.8% surge from its lowest point that day.
This surge injected about $900 billion (!) into the market.
And all this happened right before the market closed for the weekend - leaving investors in suspense until this coming Monday.
Looking at the Nasdaq 100 through the ETF $QQQ (traded in after-hours unlike the index itself), it can be seen that it jumped 1.1% between 3:40 PM and 5:00 PM (US time) without any visible announcement.
Concurrently, very active CALL options trading was recorded - indicating that some traders anticipated the move in advance, even before the market closed at 4:00 PM.
After Trump's announcement about ending the war - at 5:13 PM New York time - the ETF tracking the Nasdaq 100 ($QQQ) had already recorded an unusual and strange total increase of 2% from its daily low!
This surge makes QQQ options holders for March 23 super optimistic.
Why?
Because these options holders are expected to open trading with a 200% jump above last Friday's low price.
Meanwhile, weekend Nasdaq futures are up about 0.4%.
Did someone know...?