WTI Crude Oil Speculators reduced their bullish bets for 8th straight week

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

WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large energy speculators once again cut back on their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 367,187 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 20th. This was a weekly fall of -14,011 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 381,198 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position lowering by -32,596 contracts to a weekly total of 528,849 contracts compared to the gross bearish position total of 161,662 contracts which saw a fall by -18,585 contracts for the week.

The speculative position has fallen for eight straight weeks and by a total of -192,898 net contracts over that time-frame. The current standing is now at the lowest level since August 29th of 2017 when the net position totaled 365,865 contracts and the price of WTI futures was just above $46 per barrel.

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 -396,390 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 23,137 contracts from the total net of -419,527 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 $53.43 which was a decline of $-2.26 from the previous close of $55.69, 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