December 7th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large energy speculators cut back on their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 428,035 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 3rd. This was a weekly decline of -42,901 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 470,936 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) falling by -22,617 contracts (to a weekly total of 531,120 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) increased by 20,284 contracts for the week (to a total of 103,085 contracts).
Crude oil speculators cooled off on their bullish positions this week following a strong run over the previous two months. Bullish bets had previously risen for seven consecutive weeks through November 26th and gained by a total of +115,851 bets in that time-frame. This week’s decline by over -40,000 net contracts marks the highest one-week fall since June while the overall standing (+428,035 contracts) remains above the +400,000 contract level for a fifth straight week.
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WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -437,710 contracts on the week. This was a weekly boost of 37,066 contracts from the total net of -474,776 contracts reported the previous week.
WTI Crude Oil Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the WTI Crude Oil Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $56.10 which was a decline of $-2.31 from the previous close of $58.41, 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