March 23rd – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
S&P500 Mini Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large stock market speculators continued to trim their bearish net positions in the S&P500 Mini 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 S&P500 Mini futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -48,034 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday March 19th. This was a weekly increase of 18,864 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -66,898 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) tumbling by -9,991 contracts to a weekly total of 329,711 contracts but being more than offset by the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a decline by -28,855 contracts for the week to a total of 377,745 contracts.
The net speculator position has been shedding their bearish bets for two straight weeks and for three out of the past four weeks. Speculators turned negative on this market late in January well after the sharp market drops in December and have overall been caught on the wrong side of the market during the run-up in January, February and March.
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S&P500 Mini Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 45,543 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decline of -18,526 contracts from the total net of 64,069 contracts reported the previous week.
S&P500 Mini Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the S&P500 Mini Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $2836.50 which was an uptick of $39.25 from the previous close of $2797.25, 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
