By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large oil speculators very slightly trimmed their overall bullish bets in WTI crude oil futures last week for the third 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 +271,527 contracts in the data reported for February 10th. This was a change of just -669 contracts from the previous week’s total of +272,196 net contracts for the data reported through February 3rd.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures decreased by a total of -9,267 contracts while the short positions declined by -8,598 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -669 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday February 3rd to Tuesday February 10th, the WTI crude oil price saw a decrease from $53.05 to $50.02 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, slid from $57.91 to $57.49 per barrel from Tuesday February 3rd to Tuesday February 10th, 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 |
| 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 |
| 01/27/2015 | 1668047 | 496281 | 222010 | 274271 | -6998 | 46.23 | 49.60 |
| 02/03/2015 | 1721471 | 488256 | 216060 | 272196 | -2075 | 53.05 | 57.91 |
| 02/10/2015 | 1717593 | 478989 | 207462 | 271527 | -669 | 50.02 | 57.49 |
*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
