December 7th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators dropped 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 -199,312 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 3rd. This was a weekly change of 11,387 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -210,699 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) sliding by -4,902 contracts (to a weekly total of 75,209 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) fell by a larger amount of -16,289 contracts for the week (to a total of 274,521 contracts).
VIX speculators decreased their bearish positions for two straight weeks and by a total of 19,050 contracts over that period. Previously, speculative positions had risen to an all-time record high bearish level for four consecutive weeks with the latest bearish top coming in at a total of -218,362 contracts on November 19th. This week’s total standing of -199,312 contracts marks the first time contracts have been under -200,000 since late October.
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.
VIX Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 208,807 contracts on the week. This was a weekly shortfall of -12,052 contracts from the total net of 220,859 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 $16.22 which was a rise of $2.35 from the previous close of $13.87, 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
