WTI Crude Oil Speculators reduced bullish bets for 5th straight week

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WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large energy speculators lowered their bullish net positions once again 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 633,386 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday May 22nd. This was a weekly fall of -11,058 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 644,444 net contracts.

Speculative positions have fallen for five consecutive weeks and by a total of -94,745 net contracts over that time-frame. The current speculative standing is at the lowest bullish level since January 2nd when net positions totaled +624,213 contracts

WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -665,502 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 8,873 contracts from the total net of -674,375 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 $14.56 which was an increase of $0.16 from the previous close of $14.4, 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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