By CountingPips.com
Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Report
VIX Futures Contracts: Large traders and speculators raised their bearish bets in the VIX futures market last week for a second consecutive week, according to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released on Friday.
The VIX non-commercial futures contracts, reflecting large speculator and hedge fund positions, totaled a net position of -20,446 contracts in the data reported for March 4th. This was a change of -4,408 contracts from the previous week’s total of -16,038 net contracts that was registered on February 25th.
Net non-commercial positions, on March 4th, registered their highest bearish level since February 11th when positions equaled -41,108 contracts.
The VIX index, meanwhile, edged slightly higher from 13.67 on Tuesday February 25th to a 14.10 reading on Tuesday March 4th, according to the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | VIX Score |
| 01/28/2014 | 376043 | 108155 | 173659 | -65504 | -1198 | 15.8 |
| 02/04/2014 | 384117 | 101502 | 152732 | -51230 | 14274 | 19.11 |
| 02/11/2014 | 378851 | 85350 | 126458 | -41108 | 10122 | 14.51 |
| 02/18/2014 | 409111 | 107597 | 122520 | -14923 | 26185 | 13.87 |
| 02/25/2014 | 367042 | 108739 | 124777 | -16038 | -1115 | 13.67 |
| 03/04/2014 | 362996 | 104145 | 124591 | -20446 | -4408 | 14.1 |
*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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