July 13th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators continued to increase their bearish net positions in the VIX futures markets again 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 -132,182 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday July 9th. This was a weekly change of -7,958 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -124,224 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) advancing by 2,989 contracts (to a weekly total of 100,917 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) jumped by 10,947 contracts for the week (to a total of 233,099 contracts).
The large speculators are continuing to increase their bearish positions and betting on a lower VIX. The bearish bets have now risen for five straight weeks (by a total of -46,672 contracts) and for the seventh time out of the past eight weeks.
Free Reports:
The current standing is above the -100,000 net contract level for a fourth straight week and is creeping ever closer to the recent record bearish level of -180,359 contracts on April 30th.
VIX Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 142,492 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 7,398 contracts from the total net of 135,094 contracts reported the previous week.
VIX Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $16.07 which was a gain of $1.85 from the previous close of $14.22, 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