An investment product linked to oil market declines experienced its largest fund outflow since 2020 as crude prices dropped to four-year lows. The dip was influenced by OPEC+ increasing production following US President Donald Trump's trade policies, impacting major crude-importing nations like China and India. New York futures have fallen for four consecutive days, nearing their lowest levels since 2021.

Concerned about further price drops, some investors opted to cash in on their pessimistic positions. The ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF, designed to reflect twice the opposite of its underlying index performance, saw a $72.2 million outflow on Monday, the most significant withdrawal since the Covid crisis began.

Conversely, the United States Oil Fund, the largest oil price-tracking ETF, experienced a $275 million inflow on Friday, reaching levels last seen in 2020, before posting a $98.7 million outflow in the subsequent session.

Recent volatile oil prices have enticed investors back to the market, with a net inflow of $11.6 billion in the previous week, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Tracey Allen. Retail investors have been leveraging economic shifts to profit from tradable baskets, contributing to the market's ups and downs.

The rising popularity of commodity-linked products, driven in part by user-friendly trading platforms like Robinhood, has increased interest among opportunistic investors traditionally focused on equities, notes Christina Qi, CEO of Databento. This trend has enhanced liquidity but also forewarns of potential turbulent trading conditions. Volatility levels have surged this week to heights not seen since November.