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WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Large speculators and traders sharply cut back on their bullish net positions in the WTI crude oil futures markets last 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 433,800 contracts in the data reported through March 14th. This was a weekly drop of -74,725 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 508,525 net contracts.
Speculators have now decreased their bullish net positions for three straight weeks after reaching a record high bullish position on February 21st. Last week’s decline marked the largest weekly drop since November 8th 2016 when net positions fell by -76,860 contracts.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
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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 -447,406 contracts last week. This is a weekly change of 88,093 contracts from the total net of -535,499 contracts reported the previous week.
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the USO Crude Oil ETF, which tracks the price of WTI crude oil, closed at approximately $10.19 which was a decline of $-1.08 from the previous close of $11.27, 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
