By CountingPips.com
Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Report
VIX Futures Contracts: Large traders and speculators added their total net bearish positions in the VIX futures market for the third straight week and increased bets to their most bearish level in six weeks, according to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released on Friday. The VIX non-commercial contracts, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -71,496 contracts in the data reported for January 14th. This was a change of -24,024 contracts from the previous week’s total of -47,472 net contracts on January 7th. Speculators have raised bearish positions now for three straight weeks and net contracts are at the most bearish level since December 10th when net contracts stood at -73,332.
The VIX index, meanwhile, decreased from 12.92 on Tuesday January 7th to 12.28 on Tuesday January 14th, according to the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | VIX Score |
| 12/10/2013 | 387342 | -73332 | -11282 | 13.91 |
| 12/17/2013 | 378966 | -62637 | 10695 | 16.21 |
| 12/24/2013 | 354273 | -38125 | 24512 | 12.48 |
| 12/31/2013 | 349696 | -39992 | -1867 | 14.28 |
| 01/07/2014 | 359668 | -47472 | -7480 | 12.92 |
| 01/14/2014 | 397328 | -71496 | -24024 | 12.28 |
*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).
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