Copper Speculators reduced their bullish bets for 3rd week running

December 15th 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large precious metals speculators continued to cut back on their bullish net positions in the Copper 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 Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 7,247 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 11th. This was a weekly lowering of -3,436 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 10,683 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position declining by -3,041 contracts to a weekly total of 72,307 contracts compared to the gross bearish position which saw a increase by 395 contracts for the week to a total of 65,060 contracts.

Copper’s net spec position has now fallen for three straight weeks and for the fourth time out of the past five weeks. The current standing remains in a small bullish position below the +10,000 net contract level.

Copper Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -6,806 contracts on the week. This was a weekly rise of 5,047 contracts from the total net of -11,853 contracts reported the previous week.

Copper Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $276.70 which was a gain of $0.80 from the previous close of $275.90, 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