By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators sharply boosted their bullish bets to the highest level in the previous six months in the Gold futures markets in late December, 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 late in December due to the government shutdown which halted the releases. The CFTC will be releasing data on Tuesdays and Fridays going forward until the data is back up to date.
The non-commercial futures contracts of Gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 110,985 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 24th. This was a weekly lift of 35,025 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 75,960 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) growing by 26,454 contracts to a weekly total of 208,622 contracts compared to the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a paring by -8,571 contracts for the week to a total of 97,637 contracts.
The speculative net position surged for four straight weeks into December 24th and recorded the highest level since June of 2018.
Free Reports:
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -128,219 contracts on the week. This was a weekly fall of -35,544 contracts from the total net of -92,675 contracts reported the previous week.
Gold Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Gold Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $1271.80 which was a rise of $18.20 from the previous close of $1253.60, 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