March 2nd – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators slightly reduced their bullish net positions in the Copper futures markets in 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 the middle of 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 878 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday February 19th. This was a weekly lowering of -325 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 1,203 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) growing by 1,798 contracts to a weekly total of 84,724 contracts compared to the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a rise by 2,123 contracts for the week to a total of 83,846 contracts.
The Copper net speculative position dipped slightly through February 19th after seeing improving positions in the previous four weeks in a row. The net position had fallen into a speculative extreme bearish position in the middle to late weeks of January. The current position (Feb. 19th) has now been back in bullish territory for two straight weeks.
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 -2,437 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decline of -479 contracts from the total net of -1,958 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 $287.45 which was a rise of $10.25 from the previous close of $277.20, 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