S&P500 Mini Speculators pushed bullish bets higher earlier in the week

December 22nd – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

S&P500 Mini Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large stock market speculators continued to raise their bullish net positions in the S&P500 Mini futures markets for a second week 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 S&P500 Mini futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 210,266 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 18th. This was a weekly rise of 36,087 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 174,179 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position advancing by 42,111 contracts to a weekly total of 480,166 contracts compared to the gross bearish position which saw a small gain by 6,024 contracts for the week to a total of 269,900 contracts.

The latest data shows speculative bets that took place earlier in the week and do not include the selloff that happened as the week went on. The latest standing for spec positions rose above the +200,000 net contract level for the first time in three weeks.

S&P500 Mini Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -351,789 contracts on the week. This was a weekly drop of -73,019 contracts from the total net of -278,770 contracts reported the previous week.

S&P500 Mini Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the S&P500 Mini Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $2538.00 which was a decline of $-103.25 from the previous close of $2641.25, 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