By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large speculators added to their overall bullish bets in WTI crude oil futures last week for a second 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, totaled a net position of +281,269 contracts in the data reported for January 20th. This was a change of +5,789 contracts from the previous week’s total of +275,480 net contracts for the data reported through January 13th.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures declined by a total of 4,956 contracts but was more than offset by a decrease in the short positions which fell by 10,745 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of +5,789 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday January 13th to Tuesday January 20th, the WTI crude oil price edged higher from $45.89 to $46.47 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, also saw a slight increase from $47.82 to $47.99 per barrel from Tuesday January 13th to Tuesday January 20th, according to price data from investing.com.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
Free Reports:
| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | Oil Price | Brent Price |
| 12/16/2014 | 1475862 | 435032 | 150953 | 284079 | 22303 | 56.26 | 60.01 |
| 12/23/2014 | 1428829 | 412781 | 131132 | 281649 | -2430 | 57.12 | 61.69 |
| 12/30/2014 | 1457729 | 421184 | 148700 | 272484 | -9165 | 54.12 | 57.90 |
| 01/06/2015 | 1505101 | 440821 | 172021 | 268800 | -3684 | 47.93 | 51.10 |
| 01/13/2015 | 1627535 | 485464 | 209984 | 275480 | 6680 | 45.89 | 47.82 |
| 01/20/2015 | 1591022 | 480508 | 199239 | 281269 | 5789 | 46.47 | 47.99 |
*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
