These risks to the upside for oil prices make it likely that market participants will feel more comfortable taking long positions, or bets that prices will rise, than the opposite, said Glen Ward, head of retail derivatives at London Capital Group.

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Steel worked his way up at Goldman, starting in Chicago in 1976 and moving a decade later to London, where he founded the firm's European equity capital markets group.

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Boldly moving out of its comfort zone, the 327-year-old exchange bought a controlling stake in the London-based Equiduct trading platform and entered a strategic relationship with the investment banks Citadel Securities and Knight Capital Group, to become a market to be reckoned with.

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