By CountingPips.com | Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators slightly trimmed their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week as speculators have now reduced net bullish positions for three straight weeks, 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 +289,161 contracts in the data reported for April 12th. This was a change of -969 contracts from the previous week’s total of +290,130 net contracts for the data reported through April 5th.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures declined by -11,460 contracts and just slightly overcame the short positions that slid by -10,491 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -969 contracts.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
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In the commercial positions for oil on the week, the commercials (hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes) decreased their existing bearish positions to a net total position of -279,234 contracts through April 12th. This is a weekly change of +8,593 contracts from the total net amount of -287,827 contracts on April 5th.
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday April 5th to Tuesday April 12th, the USO Oil ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, rose from $9.13 to $10.64, according to ETF data for the USO United States Oil Fund LP ETF.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions
| Date | Net Commercial Positions | Weekly Com Changes | Net Large Specs Positions | Weekly Spec Changes |
| 20160308 | -241089 | -28211 | 244252 | 31734 |
| 20160315 | -267737 | -26648 | 269856 | 25604 |
| 20160322 | -296929 | -29192 | 307977 | 38121 |
| 20160329 | -305050 | -8121 | 305511 | -2466 |
| 20160405 | -287827 | 17223 | 290130 | -15381 |
| 20160412 | -279234 | 8593 | 289161 | -969 |
*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
