WTI Crude Oil Speculators continued to pare their bullish bets for 7th week

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

WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large energy speculators continued to decrease their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 381,198 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 13th. This was a weekly fall of -22,585 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 403,783 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position going up by 6,883 contracts to a weekly total of 561,445 contracts but being overtaken by the gross bearish position which saw a gain by 29,468 short contracts for the week to a total of 180,247 contracts.

The speculative position has continued on its downward trajectory for a seventh straight week and for the ninth week out of the past ten. The current standing is now at the least bullish level since September 12th of 2017 when the net position totaled 374,480 contracts.

WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -419,527 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 27,084 contracts from the total net of -446,611 contracts reported the previous week.

WTI Crude Oil Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the WTI Crude Oil Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $55.69 which was a fall of $-6.52 from the previous close of $62.21, 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