September 7th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators added to their bearish net positions in the Copper 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 Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -58,841 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday September 3rd. This was a weekly change of -361 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -58,480 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) going up by 3,304 contracts (to a weekly total of 76,099 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) rose by a greater amount of 3,665 contracts for the week (to a total of 134,940 contracts).
Speculators raised their bearish bets higher for a second straight week and the bearish position reached the most bearish level on record for a second straight week as well, according to CFTC data going back to 1989.
Free Reports:
Copper speculators had held an overall bullish position as recently as April 23rd before sentiment turned sour and spec positions declined for fourteen out of the next nineteen weeks through this week.
Copper Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 58,997 contracts on the week. This was a weekly gain of 3,112 contracts from the total net of 55,885 contracts reported the previous week.
This week’s data also marked a record high for the commercial positions on the bullish side, surpassing the previous record on August 6th.
Copper Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $252.80 which was a shortfall of $-2.50 from the previous close of $255.30, 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