WTI Crude Oil Speculators lowered their bullish bets for 10th straight week

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

WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large energy speculators continued to decrease their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 330,146 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 4th. This was a weekly lowering of -17,975 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 348,121 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position tumbling by -6,387 contracts to a weekly total of 505,292 contracts compared to the gross bearish position which saw an increase by 11,588 contracts for the week to a total of 175,146 contracts.

The speculative net positions keeps declining and has fallen for ten straight weeks (by a total of -229,939 contracts in that period). The current standing is now at the lowest bullish level since June 27th of 2017 when the net position totaled 327,188 contracts.

WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -348,524 contracts on the week. This was a weekly advance of 24,691 contracts from the total net of -373,215 contracts reported the previous week.

WTI Crude Oil Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the WTI Crude Oil Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $53.25 which was an increase of $1.69 from the previous close of $51.56, 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