Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators cut back on net positions in the Copper futures markets this week and pushed their bets into a new bearish standing, 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 Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -1,699 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday August 21st. This was a weekly decline of -4,787 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 3,088 net contracts.
Copper speculative bets declined this week for the third time out of the past four weeks and dipped into bearish territory. This is the first time the overall net position for speculators is in bearish territory since October 25th of 2016 when the net position totaled -13,754 contracts.
The copper spec position has fallen sharply over the past ten weeks; going from +56,311 contracts on June 19th to a new negative position this week.
Copper Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 1,476 contracts on the week. This was a weekly gain of 7,540 contracts from the total net of -6,064 contracts reported the previous week.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $269.55 which was an advance of $1.35 from the previous close of $268.2, according to unofficial market data.