S&P500 Mini Speculators sharply pulled back on their bullish bets this week

November 10, 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

S&P500 Mini Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large stock market speculators decreased their bullish net positions in the S&P500 Mini futures markets this week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

The non-commercial futures contracts of S&P500 Mini futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 198,022 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 6th. This was a weekly decrease of -64,986 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 263,008 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position declining by -83,848 contracts to a weekly total of 468,954 contracts compared to the gross bearish position total of 270,932 contracts which saw a decrease by only -18,862 contracts for the week.

The speculative position dipped this week after gaining for six out of the previous seven weeks. The current standing remains strongly bullish but has fallen below the +200,000 net contract level for the first time in six weeks.

S&P500 Mini Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -241,081 contracts on the week. This was a weekly advance of 60,346 contracts from the total net of -301,427 contracts reported the previous week.

S&P500 Mini Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the S&P500 Mini Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $2759.0 which was a gain of $73.75 from the previous close of $2685.25, according to unofficial market data.

*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the most recent Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

Article By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email