Silver Speculators dropped their net positions into new bearish level

August 18, 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

Silver Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large metals speculators cut back on their net positions in the Silver futures markets this week and pushed bets into a new bearish standing, 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 -2,836 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday August 7th. This was a weekly reduction of -7,177 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 4,341 net contracts.

Speculative positions have declined for two straight weeks and for eight out of the past nine weeks. The overall position is back in bearish territory for the first time in fourteen weeks (since -121 contracts on May 8th).

Silver Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -12,376 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 9,742 contracts from the total net of -22,118 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 $14.17 which was a shortfall of $-0.26 from the previous close of $14.43, 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