July 8th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators continued to raise their bearish net positions in the VIX futures markets again last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday (delayed due to July 4th holiday).
The non-commercial futures contracts of VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -124,224 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday July 2nd. This was a weekly change of -7,530 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -116,694 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) ascending by 15,977 contracts (to a weekly total of 97,928 contracts) but was overcome by the gross bearish position (shorts) which gained by 23,507 contracts for the week (to a total of 222,152 contracts).
Large speculators increased their bearish bets for the VIX for a fourth straight week and for the fifth time in the past six weeks. The bearish sentiment has now risen to the highest level since May 7th which was one week after reaching an all-time record high position of -180,359 contracts on April 30th.
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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 135,094 contracts on the week. This was a weekly boost of 8,585 contracts from the total net of 126,509 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 $14.22 which was a loss of $-2.45 from the previous close of $16.67, 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
