By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CFTC COT data shows speculator’s oil bets gained strongly for 2nd week
WTI CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large oil speculators raised their overall bullish bets in WTI crude oil futures last week for a second week and to the highest level in a month, 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 +252,043 contracts in the data reported for April 7th. This was a change of +25,348 contracts from the previous week’s total of +226,695 net contracts for the data reported through March 31st.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures increased by 4,901 contracts and combined with the short positions that fell by -20,447 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of +25,348 contracts.
The speculative positions of WTI crude oil are now at the highest level since March 10th when total positions equaled +260,659 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday March 31st to Tuesday April 7th, the WTI crude oil price pushed higher from $47.60 to $53.98 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices also rose for the week from $55.11 to $59.10 per barrel from Tuesday March 31st to Tuesday April 7th, according to price data from investing.com.
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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 |
| 03/03/2015 | 1687908 | 497948 | 235659 | 262289 | -7548 | 50.52 | 61.02 |
| 03/10/2015 | 1670894 | 495142 | 234483 | 260659 | -1630 | 48.29 | 56.39 |
| 03/17/2015 | 1760721 | 516956 | 273468 | 243488 | -17171 | 45.19 | 53.51 |
| 03/24/2015 | 1748067 | 513586 | 306699 | 206887 | -36601 | 47.51 | 55.11 |
| 03/31/2015 | 1740134 | 516028 | 289333 | 226695 | 19808 | 47.60 | 55.11 |
| 04/07/2015 | 1743733 | 520929 | 268886 | 252043 | 25348 | 53.98 | 59.10 |
*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
