July 8th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large energy speculators raised their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil futures markets last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday (delayed due to July 4th holiday).
The non-commercial futures contracts of WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 392,810 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday July 2nd. This was a weekly boost of 14,007 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 378,803 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) growing by 16,239 contracts (to a weekly total of 513,180 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) rose by just 2,232 contracts on the week (to a total of 120,370 contracts).
The large speculators boosted their bullish bets for a third consecutive week last week and by a total of +41,155 contracts over that period. This follows a streak of seven weekly declines from April 30th to June 11th. Overall, the spec position remains firmly in bullish territory but has now been under the +400,000 net contract level for four straight weeks.
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WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -398,231 contracts on the week. This was a weekly loss of -23,323 contracts from the total net of -374,908 contracts reported the previous week.
WTI Crude Oil Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the WTI Crude Oil Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $56.25 which was a decrease of $-1.58 from the previous close of $57.83, 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
