August 24th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators cut back on their bearish net positions in the Copper futures markets this week after falling to a record bearish level recently, 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 Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -48,945 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday August 20th. This was a weekly change of 4,655 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -53,600 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) falling by -718 contracts (to a weekly total of 75,489 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) fell further by a total of -5,373 contracts for the week (to a total of 124,434 contracts).
Copper bets have now improved for a second straight week after having fallen in thirteen of the previous sixteen weeks. This downtrend in speculator sentiment had brought the spec position from a total of +2,126 contracts on April 23rd to a new all-time record bearish position of -58,449 contracts on August 6th.
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The modest turnaround of the past two weeks has pulled the bearish position slightly back under the -50,000 contract level for the first time in three weeks.
Copper Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 47,237 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decline of -6,087 contracts from the total net of 53,324 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 $257.80 which was a fall of $-5.20 from the previous close of $263.00, 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
