By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large non-commercial speculators cut back on their overall bullish bets in crude oil futures last week for a eighth straight week although at a reduced pace compared to previous weeks, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial contracts of crude oil futures, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, fell to a total net position of +323,473 contracts in the data reported for August 19th. This was a change of -593 contracts from the previous week’s total of +324,066 net contracts for the data reported through August 12th.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures declined by a total of -4,043 contracts while the short positions also showed a decrease by -3,450 contracts to total an overall weekly net change of -593 contracts.
The non-commercial trader’s net positions marks a new lowest level since December 3rd 2013 when net positions equaled +320,848 contracts. The small decline for the week in speculative levels suggests that bearish sentiment may be potentially bottoming after falling for eight weeks and seeing six of those eight weeks posting declines of more than 17,000 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday August 12th to Tuesday August 19th, the crude oil price was down sharply from $97.37 to $92.86 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, also traded lower from $103.89 to $101.56 per barrel from Tuesday August 12th to Tuesday August 19th, according to price data from investing.com.
Free Reports:
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | Oil Price | Brent Price |
| 07/15/2014 | 1721704 | 489729 | 90126 | 399603 | -25284 | 99.96 | 106.88 |
| 07/22/2014 | 1642836 | 467574 | 96130 | 371444 | -28159 | 102.39 | 107.33 |
| 07/29/2014 | 1628926 | 470115 | 105376 | 364739 | -6705 | 100.97 | 107.72 |
| 08/5/2014 | 1587187 | 450544 | 103340 | 347204 | -17535 | 97.38 | 104.61 |
| 08/12/2014 | 1583609 | 433331 | 109265 | 324066 | -23138 | 97.37 | 103.89 |
| 08/19/2014 | 1542337 | 429288 | 105815 | 323473 | -593 | 92.86 | 101.56 |
*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).
Article by CountingPips.com – Forex Trading News
