Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Gold Report
Gold speculative positions trended lower last week
GOLD Non-Commercial Positions:
Gold speculator and large futures traders reduced their gold bullish positions last week after pushing bullish bets higher the previous two straight weeks, 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 +104,694 contracts in the data reported through May 26th. This was a weekly change of -17,927 contracts from the previous week’s total of +122,621 net contracts that were registered on May 19th.
The lower results in the weekly net speculator positions (-17,927 net contracts) was due to a decline in the weekly bullish positions by -10,239 contracts combined with an advance in the weekly bearish positions by +7,688 contracts.
Over the weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday May 19th to Tuesday May 26th, the gold price dropped from approximately $1,206.70 to $1,187.80 per ounce, according to gold futures price data from investing.com.
Gold Commercial Positions:
In the commercial positions for gold on the week, the commercials (hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes) reduced their overall bearish positions to a net total position of -109,720 contracts through May 26th. This was a weekly change of +22,614 contracts from the total net of -132,334 contracts on May 19th.
*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).