Copper Non-Commercial Positions:
The decline in sentiment for copper continued last week as speculators decreased their net positions in the copper futures markets for the fourth consecutive week, 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 copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 12,458 contracts in the data reported through April 25th. This was a weekly drop of -3,585 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 16,043 net contracts.
Copper speculators have now reduced their bullish bets for eleven out of the last twelve weeks and to a new low level since November 1st.
Copper 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 -11,990 contracts last week. This is a weekly change of 6,402 contracts from the total net of -18,392 contracts reported the previous week.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the JJC iPath Bloomber Copper ETN, which tracks the price of copper, closed at approximately $29.51 which was a gain of $0.75 from the previous close of $28.76, according to 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
