VIX Speculators continued to lift their bullish bets higher this week

November 17, 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large volatility speculators raised their bullish net positions in the VIX 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 VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 22,046 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 13th. This was a weekly increase of 9,041 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 13,005 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position advancing by 2,938 contracts to a weekly total of 157,856 contracts in addition to the gross bearish position declining by -6,103 contracts for the week to a total of 135,810 contracts.

The VIX speculative level has seen rising net positions for six consecutive weeks that has pushed the speculator level into higher bullish territory for the third week in a row. The current standing is now at the highest level since April 24th when the net position totaled 31,619 contracts.

VIX bets have now gone from a net bearish position of -113,603 contracts on October 9th to a bullish position of 22,046 contracts this week for a six-week change of 162,490 net contracts.

VIX Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -17,463 contracts on the week. This was a weekly fall of -8,582 contracts from the total net of -8,881 contracts reported the previous week.

VIX Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $18.92 which was a boost of $0.30 from the previous close of $18.62, 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