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

Here are this week’s links to the latest Commitment of Traders data changes that were released on Friday.

This week in the COT data, the precious metals continued to see lower levels of bets as Copper and Silver positions went further bearish and Gold positions once again saw their bullish bets fall.

The VIX net speculative position barely moved this week after experiencing sharp moves in previous weeks. On May 7th, VIX speculator bearish bets had risen to an all-time high at -180,359 contracts before retreating for two weeks.

The 10-Year Bond speculative bearish position declined this week for the 1st time in the last 4 weeks. Bearish positions had been expanding recently and remain strongly bearish despite the recent strength in the 10-Year bond price (and decline of the 10-Year yield which fell this week to 2.13%).

WTI Crude oil speculators continued to pare their bullish bets for a 5th week and have now cut positions by a total of -108,421 contracts over this period.

In Currencies, the USD Index bets inched up slightly again this week while British pound sterling bets went further bearish. Australian dollar bets fell to the most bearish since November and Euro bets improved a bit but remain the most bearish of the currencies.

See more below:

US Dollar Index Speculators edged bets higher, GBP bets go more bearish

Large currency speculators lifted their net positions in the US Dollar Index futures markets this week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday. See full article.

WTI Crude Oil Speculators sharply lowered their bullish oil bets

The large speculator contracts of WTI crude futures totaled a net position of 438,938 contracts, according to the latest data this week. This was a change of -39,460 contracts from the previous weekly total. See full article.

10-Year Note Speculators cut back on bearish bets for first time in 4 weeks

Large speculator contracts of the 10-Year Bond futures totaled a net position of -376,173 contracts, according to the latest data this week. This was a change of 47,178 contracts from the previous weekly total. See full article.

Gold Speculators bullish positions dipped, down for 2nd week

Large precious metals speculator contracts of the Gold futures totaled a net position of 86,688 contracts, according to the latest data this week. This was a change of -2,117 contracts from the previous weekly total. See full article.

VIX Speculator Positions were virtually unchanged this week

Large stock market volatility speculator contracts of the VIX futures totaled a net position of -105,827 contracts, according to the latest data this week. This was a change of -507 contracts from the previous weekly total. See full article.

Silver Speculators pushed their bets further into bearish territory

Large precious metals speculator contracts of the silver futures totaled a net position of -22,409 contracts, according to the latest data this week. This was a change of -7,747 contracts from the previous weekly total. See full article.

Copper Speculators raised their bearish bets for a 6th week

Metals speculator contracts of the copper futures totaled a net position of -23,833 contracts, according to the latest data this week. This was a change of -2,114 contracts from the previous weekly total. See full article.

Article By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

*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) 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).