April 27th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators continued to push their net positions to an all-time bearish level 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 -177,754 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday April 23rd. This was a weekly change of -7,846 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -169,908 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) declining by -5,158 contracts to a weekly total of 96,033 contracts and combined with the gross bearish position (shorts) which rose by 2,688 contracts for the week to a total of 273,787 contracts.
The speculative net bearish position increased for a fourth straight week this week and for the fifth time in the past six weeks. The speculator level is now at a new record high bearish position of -177,754 contracts as these for-profit traders are betting on the VIX price to continue lower. The previous record was -174,665 net contracts on October 10th of 2017.
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VIX Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 180,608 contracts on the week. This was a weekly rise of 6,525 contracts from the total net of 174,083 contracts reported the previous week.
The commercials also reached a record high bullish position of +180,608 net contracts this week. The previous record was on October 10th of 2017 when commercials had bullish bets of +177,996 contracts.
VIX Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $14.12 which was a decline of $-0.50 from the previous close of $14.62, 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
