By CountingPips.com
Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Report
CRUDE OIL: Large futures market traders and speculators slightly increased their overall bullish bets in crude oil futures for a fifth straight week and to the highest level since March 4th last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial contracts of crude oil futures, primarily traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of +410,125 contracts in the data reported for April 22nd. This was a change of just +574 contracts for the week. The previous week had seen a total of +409,551 net contracts in the data through April 15th.
The total level of +410,125 bullish positions brings crude oil positions to the highest standing since March 4th when total net positions reached +425,818 contracts.
Over the weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday April 15th to Tuesday April 22nd, the crude oil price declined from $103.78 to $101.92 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, edged up from $109.20 to $109.44 per barrel from Tuesday April 15th to Tuesday April 22nd, also according to prices from investing.com.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | Oil Price |
| 03/18/2014 | 1623266 | 492620 | 108335 | 384285 | -22547 | 98.88 |
| 03/25/2014 | 1604566 | 498080 | 106906 | 391174 | 6889 | 99.19 |
| 04/01/2014 | 1644507 | 502389 | 110606 | 391783 | 609 | 99.61 |
| 04/08/2014 | 1655472 | 512035 | 112248 | 399787 | 8004 | 102.33 |
| 04/15/2014 | 1674276 | 523490 | 113939 | 409551 | 9764 | 103.78 |
| 04/22/2014 | 1619737 | 517023 | 106898 | 410125 | 574 | 101.92 |
*COT Report: The weekly commitment of traders report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading 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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