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Silver Non-Commercial Positions:

Large speculators and traders increased their net positions in the silver futures markets last week to the highest level since October, 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 Comex silver futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 69,482 contracts in the data reported through January 17th. This was a weekly rise of 4,881 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 64,601 net contracts.

Last week’s speculative gain brought silver positions higher for a third straight week and to the highest level since October 4th when total positions equaled +75,803 contracts.

Silver Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -81,736 contracts last week. This is a weekly decline of -2,799 contracts from the total net of -78,937 contracts reported the previous week.

Silver ETF:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the SLV ishares ETF, which tracks the price of silver, closed at approximately $16.28 which was a change of $0.37 from the previous close of $15.91, according to ETF financial market data.

*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