WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Large speculators and traders sharply decreased their net positions in the WTI crude oil futures markets last week following three weeks of gains, 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 411,822 contracts in the data reported through April 25th. This was a weekly fall of -32,061 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 443,883 net contracts.
Speculators had built up their bullish net position over the past three weeks and remain highly bullish (over +400,000 contracts) in their net positions despite last week’s sharp decline.
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 -433,625 contracts last week. This is a weekly change of 11,625 contracts from the total net of -445,250 contracts reported the previous week.
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 $10.36 which was a decline of $-0.68 from the previous close of $11.04, 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
