WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Large speculators cut back on their bullish net positions in the WTI crude oil futures markets last week for a second straight 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 WTI crude futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 508,525 contracts in the data reported through March 7th. This was a weekly decline of -16,729 contracts from the previous week which saw a total of 525,254 net contracts.
Speculative bets have fallen by over -48,000 contracts in the past two weeks after positions surged to a record high level of +556,607 net contracts on February 21st.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
Free Reports:
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 -535,499 contracts last week. This is a weekly gain of 10,517 contracts from the total net of -546,016 contracts reported the previous week.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame as the COT data, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the USO Crude Oil ETF, which tracks the price of WTI crude oil, closed at approximately $11.27 which was a loss of $-0.18 from the previous close of $11.45, according to ETF 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
