S&P500 Mini Speculators sharply dropped their bullish bets to lowest since March

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

S&P500 Mini Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large stock market speculators sharply decreased their bullish net positions in the S&P500 Mini 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 S&P500 Mini futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 104,076 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 4th. This was a weekly decline of -111,281 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 215,357 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position sinking by -69,529 contracts to a weekly total of 416,487 contracts compared to the gross bearish position which saw a gain by 41,752 contracts for the week to a total of 312,411 contracts.

The speculative net position saw the largest weekly decline since February of 2014 and has now fallen for two straight weeks. The current standing is at the lowest bullish position since March 20th when the net position totaled 83,293 contracts.

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 -182,392 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 93,635 contracts from the total net of -276,027 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 $2701.75 which was a gain of $18.25 from the previous close of $2683.50, 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