June 22nd – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators added to their bearish net positions in the VIX futures markets for a second straight week 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 -108,644 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday June 18th. This was a weekly change of -17,462 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -91,182 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) tumbling by -3,825 contracts (to a weekly total of 80,566 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) gained by 13,637 contracts for the week (to a total of 189,210 contracts).
The large speculator position had recently risen to a record high bearish position of -180,359 contracts on April 30th. However, this was followed up by a sharp retreat of positions in the next few weeks. Since the middle of May, the speculators have started rebuilding their short positions with higher bearish bets in four out of the past five weeks.
Free Reports:
Get Our Free Metatrader 4 Indicators - Put Our Free MetaTrader 4 Custom Indicators on your charts when you join our Weekly Newsletter
Get our Weekly Commitment of Traders Reports - See where the biggest traders (Hedge Funds and Commercial Hedgers) are positioned in the futures markets on a weekly basis.
This week continues in that trend and the overall short position is now at the highest bearish level since May 7th. The spec short position also rose over the -100,000 contract level for the first time in three weeks.
VIX Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 116,769 contracts on the week. This was a weekly gain of 19,849 contracts from the total net of 96,920 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 $16.62 which was a loss of $-0.50 from the previous close of $17.12, 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
