It seems like every time you blink your eyes, the price of oil is either up or down $3 or $4 per barrel. While the big swings in price make it seem like the commodity is as volatile as ever, a historical look at its high/low spread highlights that it's not as wild as you would think. Based on the 50-day average of the daily spread between its high and low price (in percentage terms), oil volatility is currently right about at the average of the last ten years. Since the price of oil is so high these days, the swings in dollar terms are bigger, but in percentage terms, it's no different than usual.
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