February 23rd – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators cut back on their bearish net positions in the Copper futures markets into February, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
This latest COT data is from early February due to the government shutdown which suspended the releases for approximately a month. The CFTC is releasing data on Tuesdays and Fridays going forward until the data is back up to date.
The non-commercial futures contracts of Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -6,082 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday February 5th. This was a weekly increase of 15,831 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -21,913 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) increasing by 3,212 contracts to a weekly total of 79,336 contracts compared to the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a decrease by -12,619 contracts for the week to a total of 85,418 contracts.
The speculative net position saw short position decline for the third straight week and fell to the lowest bearish level in eight weeks. The overall standing continued to remain in a bearish position since December 18th.
Free Reports:
Copper Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 5,641 contracts on the week. This was a weekly loss of -14,635 contracts from the total net of 20,276 contracts reported the previous week.
Copper Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $281.70 which was an uptick of $9.20 from the previous close of $272.50, 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