Gold Non-Commercial Positions:
Large speculators and traders decreased their bullish net positions in the gold futures markets last week following two weeks of advances in net bullish bets, 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 gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 117,149 contracts in the data reported through February 7th. This was a weekly decline of -2,006 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 119,155 net contracts.
Gold net speculative positions, despite the weekly shortfall, have found a level of support above the net +100,000 level after briefly falling below there in late December to early January. Net positions have now been above the net bullish +100,000 level for five straight weeks.
Gold Commercial Positions:
Free Reports:
Meanwhile, 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 -134,146 contracts last week. This is a weekly change of -2,343 contracts from the total net of -131,803 contracts reported the previous week.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the GLD ETF, which tracks the price of gold, closed at approximately $117.46 which was a rise of $1.91 from the previous close of $115.55, according to ETF financial market data.
*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the previous 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).
Article by CountingPips.com
