By CountingPips.com | Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
CFTC COT data shows speculator’s edged oil bets lower last week
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators trimmed their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week following five straight weeks of gaining positions, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial contracts of crude oil futures, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, totaled a net position of +305,511 contracts in the data reported for March 29th. This was a change of -2,466 contracts from the previous week’s total of +307,977 net contracts for the data reported through March 22nd.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures advanced by 6,799 contracts but were overtaken by the short positions that rose by 9,265 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -2,466 contracts.
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WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
In the commercial positions for oil on the week, the commercials (hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes) increased their existing bearish positions for a fourth week to a net total position of -305,050 contracts through March 29th. This is a weekly change of -8,121 contracts from the total net amount of -296,929 contracts on March 22nd.
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday March 22nd to Tuesday March 29th, the USO Oil ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, slipped from $10.54 to $9.80, according to ETF data for the USO United States Oil Fund LP ETF.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions
| Date | Net Commercial Positions | Weekly Com Changes | Net Large Specs Positions | Weekly Spec Changes |
| 20160223 | -213229 | -44234 | 205856 | 46869 |
| 20160301 | -212878 | 351 | 212518 | 6662 |
| 20160308 | -241089 | -28211 | 244252 | 31734 |
| 20160315 | -267737 | -26648 | 269856 | 25604 |
| 20160322 | -296929 | -29192 | 307977 | 38121 |
| 20160329 | -305050 | -8121 | 305511 | -2466 |
*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
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