April 27th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
S&P500 Mini Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large stock market speculators decreased their bullish net positions in the S&P500 Mini futures markets this week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial futures contracts of S&P500 Mini futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 2,429 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday April 23rd. This was a weekly decrease of -13,544 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 15,973 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) rising by 6,010 contracts to a weekly total of 408,622 contracts but was overtaken by the gross bearish position (shorts) which gained by 19,554 contracts for the week to a total of 406,193 contracts.
The net speculative position has now declined for three out of the past four weeks. Speculator bets had risen out of a small bearish position last week before this week’s decrease pushed them back down into a small bullish level.
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Speculator positions, despite the low current standing, have come back sharply (+133,263 contracts) since falling into a deeply bearish position of -130,834 net contracts on February 19th.
S&P500 Mini Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 47,788 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 30,472 contracts from the total net of 17,316 contracts reported the previous week.
S&P500 Mini Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the S&P500 Mini Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $2938.00 which was a gain of $26.50 from the previous close of $2911.50, according to unofficial market data.
*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the most recent Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures 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 – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
