By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CFTC COT data shows speculators oil bets fell sharply lower last week
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large oil speculators sharply cut their overall bullish bets in WTI crude oil futures last week after bets had jumped the previous week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial contracts of crude oil futures, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, totaled a net position of +269,837 contracts in the data reported for February 24th. This was a change of -29,553 contracts from the previous week’s total of +299,390 net contracts for the data reported through February 17th.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures actually rose by 12,164 contracts but were more than offset by the short positions that increased sharply by 41,717 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -29,553 contracts.
The fall in the overall net bullish standing positions puts net positions at the lowest level since January 6th and overtook the previous week’s rise of +27,863 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday February 17th to Tuesday February 24th, the WTI crude oil price saw a decline from $54.29 to $49.21 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, fell from $62.53 to $58.569 per barrel from Tuesday February 17th to Tuesday February 24th, according to price data from investing.com.
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Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | Oil Price | Brent Price |
| 01/20/2015 | 1591022 | 480508 | 199239 | 281269 | 5789 | 46.47 | 47.99 |
| 01/27/2015 | 1668047 | 496281 | 222010 | 274271 | -6998 | 46.23 | 49.60 |
| 02/03/2015 | 1721471 | 488256 | 216060 | 272196 | -2075 | 53.05 | 57.91 |
| 02/10/2015 | 1717593 | 478989 | 207462 | 271527 | -669 | 50.02 | 57.49 |
| 02/17/2015 | 1689966 | 478741 | 179351 | 299390 | 27863 | 54.29 | 62.53 |
| 02/24/2015 | 1695437 | 490905 | 221068 | 269837 | -29553 | 49.21 | 58.69 |
*COT Report: The weekly commitment of traders report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading 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 – Forex Trading News
