By CountingPips.com
Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Report
VIX Futures Contracts: Large traders and speculators continued to raise overall bearish bets in the VIX futures market last week for a fourth consecutive week, 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 -35,946 contracts in the data reported for April 15th. This was a change of -4,200 contracts from the previous week’s total of -31,746 net contracts that was registered on April 8th.
Large speculators bearish positions are currently at a new highest level since February 11th when overall positions stood at a level of -41,108 contracts.
The VIX index, meanwhile, rose last week for a second straight week from a 14.89 reading on Tuesday April 8th to a 15.61 reading on Tuesday April 15th, 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 |
| 03/11/2014 | 355040 | 114455 | 121309 | -6854 | 13592 | 14.80 |
| 03/18/2014 | 336625 | 107861 | 108924 | -1063 | 5791 | 14.52 |
| 03/25/2014 | 335826 | 109110 | 116314 | -7204 | -6141 | 14.02 |
| 04/01/2014 | 357046 | 114839 | 145412 | -30573 | -23369 | 13.10 |
| 04/08/2014 | 359952 | 105096 | 136842 | -31746 | -1173 | 14.89 |
| 04/15/2014 | 368887 | 96296 | 132242 | -35946 | -4200 | 15.61 |
*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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