Petrochemical stocks are breaking out as the energy bull market continues to expand.
By Sam Gatlin, Jason Perz
March 13, 2026
Over the past few weeks here in Commodities Weekly, we’ve been pounding the table on one thing: this commodity bull market is alive and well, and it's being driven by energy.
The price action we’ve seen recently from energy isn’t the kind of move that happens in sleepy markets.
And when you’re in a raging bull market like this, the most important question isn’t if things are going higher.
It’s where the next big move will come from.
This week, we think the answer may lie in petrochemicals.
These companies sit right in the middle of the energy ecosystem.
They take hydrocarbons and turn them into the building blocks of the global economy, plastics, chemicals, industrial materials, and countless downstream products.
When energy prices are rising and industrial demand is accelerating, these businesses tend to see massive operating leverage.
Historically, during strong energy cycles, petrochemical stocks can become among the biggest winners in the market.
And the chart is now setting up for exactly that kind of move.
Looking at our Gold Rush Petrochemicals Index, an equal-weight basket of some of the industry's largest players, we see a textbook bearish-to-bullish reversal pattern that has been developing over the past year.
After a prolonged decline through 2024 and most of 2025, the index stopped falling in Q4, and it's now breaking out to new highs.
And if the broader energy bull market continues to unfold the way we think it will, petrochemicals could quickly become one of the most explosive expressions of that theme.
These stocks are highly leveraged to rising hydrocarbon prices. When energy prices are rising, petrochemical margins tend to expand rapidly, and equity prices often respond with outsized gains.
It’s the same dynamic we’ve seen historically with oil services and fertilizer stocks during major commodity upcycles. Once the trend gets going, these names can absolutely rip.
That’s why this breakout matters.
The Gold Rush Petrochemicals Index is now resolving higher from a prolonged base and entering what we believe could be the early stages of a brand-new primary uptrend.
And within this group, there’s one particular stock that stands out to us as the most compelling opportunity right now.
For Gold Rush Premium members, we’re highlighting a setup at the end of this report in a company we believe has the potential to double over the next year as this trend accelerates.
If this commodity bull market keeps doing what it has been doing, the petrochemical trade may just be getting started.
Energy - Commercial hedgers unwound more than 20,100 contracts from their largest net-long Natural Gas position in years. We want to see this continue in future reports to confirm the local bottom in the price.
Grains - Commercials added more than 11,000 contracts to their largest net-short Hard Red Spring Wheat (Minn. Wheat) position in years. We expect this will lead to a big upside move soon.
Bonds - Commercial hedgers added over 13,500 contracts and set a new record net-short US 30-year T-Bond position. This coincides with a huge outside month for the price. Time for a big move lower?
