>That's where it gets crazy/wrong - since Goldman
>is "buying" regardless of whether prices go up or down,...
That's not how futures markets work though. If someone else said, you can only go long in a contract if someone else goes short. You can put in a BUY order, but until it matches someone else's SELL it just sits there in the market.
This is because futures don't work like stocks or shares, or even actually buying a commodity now and sitting on it. This is why some banks rent supertankers full of oil - they can't achieve the same hoarding effect on a futures exchange.
That's not how futures markets work though. If someone else said, you can only go long in a contract if someone else goes short. You can put in a BUY order, but until it matches someone else's SELL it just sits there in the market.
This is because futures don't work like stocks or shares, or even actually buying a commodity now and sitting on it. This is why some banks rent supertankers full of oil - they can't achieve the same hoarding effect on a futures exchange.