By CountingPips.com
Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Report
GOLD: Large futures market traders decreased their overall bullish bets in gold futures last week for a second consecutive week after bullish bets peaked on March 18th, 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 100,145 contracts in the data reported through April 1st. This was a change of -17,172 contracts from the previous week’s total of 117,317 net contracts on March 25th.
Gold large speculator net positions have now declined for two consecutive weeks after reaching a 13-month high level on March 18th with a total bullish position of 136,814 contracts.
Over the weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday March 25th to Tuesday April 1st, the gold price fell from approximately $1,311.00 to $1,279.60 per ounce, according to gold futures price data from the MarketWatch.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | Gold Spot Price |
| 02/25/2014 | 387503 | 169870 | 60406 | 109464 | 24833 | 1342.70 |
| 03/04/2014 | 393266 | 171404 | 56238 | 115166 | 5702 | 1337.90 |
| 03/11/2014 | 415340 | 170482 | 51592 | 118890 | 3724 | 1346.70 |
| 03/18/2014 | 420626 | 183324 | 46510 | 136814 | 17924 | 1359.00 |
| 03/25/2014 | 398264 | 169083 | 51766 | 117317 | -19497 | 1311.00 |
| 04/01/2014 | 363451 | 158152 | 58007 | 100145 | -17172 | 1279.60 |
*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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