By CountingPips.com | Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
CFTC COT data shows speculator’s bets are lowest level since May 10th
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators cut back on their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week for a third consecutive 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, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, totaled a net position of +294,795 contracts in the data reported for July 12th. This was a change of -4,877 contracts from the previous week’s total of +299,672 net contracts for the data reported through July 5th.
Speculative WTI positions are now at their lowest level since May 10th when net positions equaled +291,960 contracts.
Free Reports:
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
In the commercial positions for oil on the week, the commercials (hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes) decreased their existing bearish positions to a net total position of -293,352 contracts through July 12th. This is a weekly change of +11,685 contracts from the total net amount of -305,037 contracts on July 5th.
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday July 5th to Tuesday July 12th, the USO Oil ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, edged just slightly higher from $11.18 to $11.19, according to ETF data for the USO United States Oil Fund LP ETF.
*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
