WTI Crude Oil Speculators once again cut their bullish bets for 11th week

December 15th 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large energy speculators continued to lower their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 309,506 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 11th. This was a weekly decrease of -20,640 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 330,146 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position sliding by -708 contracts to a weekly total of 504,584 contracts compared to the gross bearish which saw a rise by 19,932 contracts for the week to a total position total of 195,078 contracts.

The speculative net position has declined for eleven straight weeks and by a total of -250,579 contracts over that period. The current standing is now at the lowest bullish level since November 29th of 2016 when the net position totaled 287,881 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 -330,952 contracts on the week. This was a weekly change of 17,572 contracts from the total net of -348,524 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 $51.65 which was a drop of $-1.60 from the previous close of $53.25, 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