VIX Speculators raised volatility bets for 7th week to highest since April

November 26th, 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large volatility speculators continued to lift their bullish net positions in the VIX futures markets last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday due to the Thanksgiving day holiday.

The non-commercial futures contracts of VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 35,528 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 20th. This was a weekly gain of 13,482 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 22,046 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position tumbling by -4,567 contracts to a weekly total of 153,289 contracts but being more than offset by the gross bearish position which saw a decline by -18,049 contracts for the week to a total of 117,761 contracts.

The speculative position has seen increasing bullish positions for seven straight weeks and now sits at the highest bullish position since April 17th when the net contracts totaled 77,951 contracts.

VIX Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -27,977 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decrease of -10,514 contracts from the total net of -17,463 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 $20.42 which was an uptick of $1.50 from the previous close of $18.92, 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