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WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large energy speculators lowered 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 472,090 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday October 27th. This was a weekly drop of -18,258 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 490,348 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) sliding by -4,919 contracts (to a weekly total of 659,778 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) advanced by 13,339 contracts for the week (to a total of 187,688 contracts).

The crude oil speculative positions fell on Tuesday following three straight weeks of rises. The pull-back in bullish positions keeps the current speculator sentiment in the tight range that has prevailed over the past six weeks from approximately +460,000 contracts to approximately +490,000 contracts. The overall standing has now been under +500,000 net contracts for nine straight weeks following a streak of twenty straight weeks above that threshold previously.

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 -498,804 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 12,313 contracts from the total net of -511,117 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 $39.57 which was a fall of $-1.89 from the previous close of $41.46, 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).

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