WTI Crude Oil Speculators reduced their bullish bets for 9th week

December 1st 2018 – 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 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 348,121 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 27th. This was a weekly reduction of -19,066 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 367,187 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position sliding by -17,170 contracts to a weekly total of 511,679 contracts compared to the gross bearish position which saw a gain by 1,896 contracts for the week to a total of 163,558 contracts.

The speculative position has now fallen for nine straight weeks and by a total of -211,964 contracts over that time-frame. The current standing is at the lowest level since July 3rd of 2017 when the net position totaled 341,047 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 -373,215 contracts on the week. This was a weekly gain of 23,175 contracts from the total net of -396,390 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 $51.56 which was a drop of $-1.87 from the previous close of $53.43, 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