WTI Crude Oil Speculators decreased bullish bets for 1st time in 6 weeks

February 17, 2018

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WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large energy speculators reduced their bullish net positions from a record high level in the WTI Crude Oil futures markets this 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 712,261 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday February 13th. This was a weekly decline of -26,836 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 739,097 net contracts.

Speculative positions had risen and made a new all-time high in each of the previous five weeks with last week’s +739,097 contracts marking the latest record level. The overall net bullish position has now remained over the +700,000 contract level for five straight weeks.

WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:


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The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -735,913 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 25,511 contracts from the total net of -761,424 contracts reported the previous week.

USO:

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 $11.87 which was a shortfall of $-0.83 from the previous close of $12.7, 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).

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