WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators raised their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week following a sharp decline in bullish bets the previous 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 +291,646 contracts in the data reported for September 27th. This was a change of +12,773 contracts from the previous week’s total of +278,873 net contracts for the data reported through September 20th.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
In the commercial positions for oil on the week, the commercials (hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes) increased their existing bearish positions to a net total position of -296,867 contracts through September 27th. This is a weekly change of -11,036 contracts from the total net amount of -285,831 contracts on September 20th.
Free Reports:
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday September 20th to Tuesday September 27th, the USO Oil ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, edged up from $10.07 to $10.15, according to ETF data for the USO United States Oil Fund LP ETF.
*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
