By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators once again raised their bearish bets in the VIX 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 VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -44,380 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday May 29th. This was a weekly decline of -18,824 contracts from the previous week which had a total of -25,556 net contracts.
Speculative bets have now fallen for seven straight weeks and by a total of -137,293 contracts over that time frame. The current net position is at the most bearish level since January 30th when the net positioning was -59,357 contracts.
VIX Commercial Positions:
Free Reports:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 42,941 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 14,500 contracts from the total net of 28,441 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 17.02 which was a boost of 3.80 from the previous close of 13.22, 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