By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CFTC COT data shows speculators trimmed bets as oil continues its tumble
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large speculators trimmed their overall bullish bets in WTI crude oil futures last week as crude oil prices maintained their bearish pace, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday due to the new year’s holiday.
The non-commercial contracts of crude oil futures, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, fell to a total net position of +272,484 contracts in the data reported for December 31st. This was a change of -9,165 contracts from the previous week’s total of +281,649 net contracts for the data reported through December 23rd.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures gained by a total of +8,403 contracts but were offset by the short positions that declined by -17,568 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -9,165 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday December 23rd to Tuesday December 31st, the WTI crude oil price dropped from $57.12 to $54.12 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, also saw a decrease from $61.69 to $57.90 per barrel from Tuesday December 23rd to Tuesday December 31st, according to price data from investing.com.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
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| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | Oil Price | Brent Price |
| 11/25/2014 | 1386635 | 400621 | 147620 | 253001 | -2362 | 74.09 | 78.33 |
| 12/02/2014 | 1439654 | 408718 | 143722 | 264996 | 11995 | 66.88 | 70.54 |
| 12/09/2014 | 1445093 | 413755 | 151979 | 261776 | -3220 | 63.82 | 66.84 |
| 12/16/2014 | 1475862 | 435032 | 150953 | 284079 | 22303 | 56.26 | 60.01 |
| 12/23/2014 | 1428829 | 412781 | 131132 | 281649 | -2430 | 57.12 | 61.69 |
| 12/30/2014 | 1457729 | 421184 | 148700 | 272484 | -9165 | 54.12 | 57.90 |
*COT Report: The weekly commitment of traders report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading 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 – Forex Trading News
