Ok, we don't know who I buy the tokens from. I just wanted a detailed example of the tokens creation.
The number of oilcoins will always be equal to the number of anti-oilcoins, right?
At first I had thought this would be the case, but I believe that is impossible. Instead, the system would try to keep the anti-oilcoin escrow fund equal to the oilcoin escrow fund.
Isn't the system losing money on the process? If oil rises 10%, then drops 10%, then rises again...
The system is buying high and selling low.
. . .
And what's the spot price of an anti-oilcoin?
You are right that the system I described would buy oilcoins when they went up in price, and sell them when they went down in price. This would have the annoying effect of amplifying any price swings, although I doubt it would consistently lose money since it can always choose the best option between manipulating oilcoins or antioilcoins. I can't prove that though.
I've been frustrated trying to think of what the spot price of an antioilcoin should be. The simplest answer is 1/oilcoin, and you just have a lot more anti-oilcoins. However, no matter what price scheme I choose, they get out of balance after any price movement and require active intervention.
I'm also warming up to morpheus' idea to control prices with mining rewards:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=29135.msg367322#msg367322He does this rather than using an "anti" coin and escrow fund, but I'm pondering whether the ideas could be combined.