By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large non-commercial speculators continued to cut back on their overall bullish bets in crude oil futures last week for a tenth straight week, 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, decreased to a total net position of +302,564 contracts in the data reported for September 2nd. This was a change of -15,163 contracts from the previous week’s total of +317,727 net contracts for the data reported through August 26th.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures declined by a total of -3,192 contracts while the short positions advanced by +11,971 contracts to total an overall weekly net change of -15,163 contracts.
The non-commercial trader’s net positions fell to a new lowest level since November 5th 2013 when overall net positions equaled +299,514 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday August 26th to Tuesday September 2nd, the crude oil price dipped slightly from $93.86 to $92.88 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, also traded lower from $102.50 to $100.34 per barrel from Tuesday August 26th to Tuesday September 2nd, 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 |
| 07/29/2014 | 1628926 | 470115 | 105376 | 364739 | -6705 | 100.97 | 107.72 |
| 08/05/2014 | 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 |
| 08/26/2014 | 1550253 | 424250 | 106523 | 317727 | -5746 | 93.86 | 102.50 |
| 09/02/2014 | 1559353 | 421058 | 118494 | 302564 | -15163 | 92.88 | 100.34 |
*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
