September 7th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators boosted their bearish net positions 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 -66,642 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday September 3rd. This was a weekly change of -9,489 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -57,153 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) sinking by -3,286 contracts (to a weekly total of 113,045 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) rose by 6,203 contracts for the week (to a total of 179,687 contracts).
Speculators raised their VIX bearish bets this week for the first time in the last five weeks.
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Previously, and in combination with some risk off sentiment in the markets, speculators had cut back on their bearish bets from August 6th to August 27th by a total of 87,161 contracts. That multi-week reduction took the overall net position from a very bearish level of -144,314 contracts to a more modest level of -57,153 contracts.
This week marks the fifth straight week the net position level is under -100,000 contracts after having been above that level in seventeen out of the previous twenty weeks.
VIX Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 71,874 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 6,026 contracts from the total net of 65,848 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 $19.52 which was a fall of $-0.60 from the previous close of $20.12, 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
