By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large speculators continued to edge down their overall bullish bets in crude oil futures last week and pushed positions lower for a thirteenth 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 +296,052 contracts in the data reported for September 23rd. This was a change of -1,229 contracts from the previous week’s total of +297,281 net contracts for the data reported through September 16th.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures fell by a total of 11,178 contracts while the short positions also showed a decline by 9,949 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -1,229 contracts.
The non-commercial trader’s net positions is at a new lowest level since July 2nd 2013 when overall net positions equaled +289,595 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday September 16th to Tuesday September 23rd, the crude oil price decreased from $93.81 to $91.56 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, also traded lower from $99.05 to $96.85 per barrel from Tuesday September 16th to Tuesday September 23rd, 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 |
| 08/19/2014 | 1542337 | 429288 | 105815 | 323473 | -593 | 92.86 | 101.56 |
| 08/26/2014 | 1550253 | 424250 | 106523 | 317727 | -5746 | 93.86 | 102.5 |
| 09/02/2014 | 1559353 | 421058 | 118494 | 302564 | -15163 | 92.88 | 100.34 |
| 09/09/2014 | 1553516 | 426580 | 126598 | 299982 | -2582 | 92.75 | 99.16 |
| 09/16/2014 | 1528614 | 434417 | 137136 | 297281 | -2701 | 93.81 | 99.05 |
| 09/23/2014 | 1480629 | 423239 | 127187 | 296052 | -1229 | 91.56 | 96.85 |
*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
