By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CFTC COT data shows speculators resume decline of bullish bets to +261,776 contracts
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large speculators trimmed their overall bullish bets in WTI crude oil futures for the third out of the last four weeks last week as crude oil prices continued to decline, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday due to Thanksgiving US holiday.
The non-commercial contracts of crude oil futures, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, dipped to a total net position of +261,776 contracts in the data reported for December 9th. This was a change of -3,220 contracts from the previous week’s total of +264,996 net contracts for the data reported through December 2nd.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures rose by a total of +5,037 contracts but were offset by a gain in the short positions by 8,257 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -3,220 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday December 2nd to Tuesday December 9th, the WTI crude oil price declined from $66.88 to $63.82 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, also showed a decline from $70.54 to $66.84 per barrel from Tuesday December 2nd to Tuesday December 9th, according to price data from investing.com.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
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| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | Oil Price | Brent Price |
| 11/04/2014 | 1498736 | 435649 | 167117 | 268532 | 1228 | 77.19 | 82.82 |
| 11/11/2014 | 1509371 | 442119 | 165287 | 276832 | 8300 | 77.94 | 82.39 |
| 11/18/2014 | 1459175 | 403713 | 148350 | 255363 | -21469 | 74.64 | 78.47 |
| 11/25/2014 | 1386635 | 400621 | 147620 | 253001 | -2362 | 74.09 | 78.33 |
| 12/02/2014 | 1439654 | 408718 | 143722 | 264996 | 11995 | 66.88 | 70.54 |
| 12/09/2014 | 1445093 | 413755 | 151979 | 261776 | -3220 | 63.82 | 66.84 |
*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).
Article by CountingPips.com – Forex Trading News
