By CountingPips.com
Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Report
VIX Futures Contracts: Large traders and speculators reduced their bearish bets in the VIX futures market last week to the lowest bearish position this year, according to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released on Friday.
The VIX non-commercial futures contracts, usually comprising of large speculator and hedge fund positions, totaled a net bearish position of -6,854 contracts in the data reported for March 11th. This was a change of +13,592 contracts from the previous week’s total of -20,446 net contracts that was registered on March 4th.
The VIX index, meanwhile, edged up slightly higher from a 14.10 reading on Tuesday March 4th to a 14.80 reading on Tuesday March 11th, 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 |
| 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 |
| 03/11/2014 | 355040 | 114455 | 121309 | -6854 | 13592 | 14.8 |
*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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