By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
Silver Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large metals speculators sharply cut back on their net positions in the Silver futures markets again this week bringing down speculative sentiment in this shiny metal, 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 Silver futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 9,914 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 12th. This was a weekly reduction of -21,512 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 31,426 net contracts.
Speculative bets have dropped by at least -21,000 contracts in each of the last two weeks and have seen a decline of -59,259 net contracts in total of the past four weeks. The current silver speculative standing is now at the lowest level since July 18th when net positions totaled +9,376 contracts.
Silver Commercial Positions:
Free Reports:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -24,829 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 21,525 contracts from the total net of -46,354 contracts reported the previous week.
SLV ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the SLV ishares ETF, which tracks the price of silver, closed at approximately $14.86 which was a loss of $-0.37 from the previous close of $15.23, according to unofficial market data.
*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the most recent 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 – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email