May 25th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large volatility speculators increased their bearish net positions in the VIX 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 VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -105,320 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday May 21st. This was a weekly change of -15,624 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -89,696 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) retreating by -15,760 contracts (to a weekly total of 81,190 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) declined by a lessor amount of -136 contracts for the week (to a total of 186,510 contracts).

The net speculative position got back to rising bearish bets after the previous two weeks saw very sharp pull backs (by a total of +90,663 contracts) from the record high short position on April 30th (at a total of -180,359 net contracts).

The VIX speculative standing is now back over the -100,000 net contract level and has been above this threshold for the ninth time out of the past ten weeks. Bearish bets have risen for fifteen out of the past twenty weeks as specs continue to bet on lower volatility.

VIX Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 111,379 contracts on the week. This was a weekly boost of 18,404 contracts from the total net of 92,975 contracts reported the previous week.

VIX Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $16.27 which was a loss of $-1.80 from the previous close of $18.07, 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