VIX Speculators bullish bets on volatility cooled off this week

December 1st 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large volatility speculators reduced their bullish net positions in the VIX 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 VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 27,613 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 27th. This was a weekly lowering of -7,915 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 35,528 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position sliding by -21,932 contracts to a weekly total of 131,357 contracts compared to the gross bearish position which saw a fall by -14,017 contracts for the week to a total of 103,744 contracts.

The net speculative position had seen increasing bullish positions for seven straight weeks before this week’s turnaround. The current standing is above the +20,000 net contract level for a third straight week.

VIX Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -19,589 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 8,388 contracts from the total net of -27,977 contracts reported the previous week.

VIX Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $19.12 which was a loss of $-1.30 from the previous close of $20.42, 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