By CountingPips.com
Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Report
GOLD: Large futures market traders cut back on their overall bullish bets in gold futures last 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 Comex gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 117,317 contracts in the data reported for March 25th. This was a change of -19,497 contracts from the previous week’s total of 136,814 net contracts that was recorded on March 18th.
The previous week’s total, on March 18th, had been the highest level of gold net positions since February 5, 2013 when large speculator positions equaled 137,465 contracts.
Over the weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday March 18th to Tuesday March 25th, the gold price fell from approximately $1,359.00 to $1,311.00 per ounce, according to gold price data from the MarketWatch.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Large Specs | Weekly Change | Gold Spot Price |
| 02/18/2014 | 390535 | 164478 | 79847 | 84631 | 13430 | 1324.4 |
| 02/25/2014 | 387503 | 169870 | 60406 | 109464 | 24833 | 1342.7 |
| 03/4/2014 | 393266 | 171404 | 56238 | 115166 | 5702 | 1337.9 |
| 03/11/2014 | 415340 | 170482 | 51592 | 118890 | 3724 | 1346.7 |
| 03/18/2014 | 420626 | 183324 | 46510 | 136814 | 17924 | 1359 |
| 03/25/2014 | 398264 | 169083 | 51766 | 117317 | -19497 | 1311 |
*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).
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