VIX Speculators cut their bets into a new bearish position

By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large volatility speculators lowered their net positions in the VIX futures markets for a fifth straight week 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 VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -3,732 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday May 15th. This was a weekly fall of -21,321 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 17,589 net contracts.

Speculative positions have declined by a total of -96,645 contracts over the past five weeks after reaching a record high bullish position on April 10th. This week’s bearish position is the first since market volatility spiked in early February and bets went bullish on February 6th.

VIX Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 8,514 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 22,002 contracts from the total net of -13,488 contracts reported the previous week.

VIX:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX, which tracks the volatility of the S&P500, closed at approximately $14.63 which was a fall of $-0.08 from the previous close of $14.71, 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