Gold Speculators strongly boosted their bullish bets to best level in 20 weeks

December 10th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large precious metals speculators sharply increased their bullish net positions in the Gold futures markets last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday which was a delay due to former President George H.W. Bush’s funeral last week.

The non-commercial futures contracts of Gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 49,001 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 4th. This was a weekly boost of 47,130 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 1,871 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position going up by 16,240 contracts to a weekly total of 173,019 contracts compared to the gross bearish position which saw a lowering by -30,890 contracts for the week to a total of 124,018 contracts.

The speculative net position has increased for two out of the past three weeks and last week hit the largest gain in seven weeks. The current standing is now at the most bullish level since July 17th when the net position totaled 57,841 contracts.

Gold Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -58,249 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decline of -42,149 contracts from the total net of -16,100 contracts reported the previous week.

Gold Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Gold Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $1246.60 which was a rise of $26.70 from the previous close of $1219.90, 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