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 after two weeks of declining short positions, according to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released on Friday.
The VIX non-commercial futures contracts, comprising of large speculator and hedge fund positions, totaled a net bearish position of -7,204
contracts in the data reported for March 25th. This was a change of -6,141 contracts from the previous week’s total of -1,063 net contracts that was registered on March 18th.
The data saw large speculators increase both their long and short positions for the week although the short positions rose by a greater margin.
The VIX index, meanwhile, edged slightly lower for a second week in a row from a 14.52 reading on Tuesday March 18th to a 14.02 reading on Tuesday March 25th, 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 |
| 02/18/2014 | 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 |
| 03/18/2014 | 336625 | 107861 | 108924 | -1063 | 5791 | 14.52 |
| 03/25/2014 | 335826 | 109110 | 116314 | -7204 | -6141 | 14.02 |
*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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