Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large speculators sharply cut back on their bullish net positions in the Gold futures markets this 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 Gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 150,675 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday June 20th. This was a weekly drop of -39,599 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 190,274 net contracts.
Speculative gold positions have fallen by over -53,000 contracts in the past two weeks alone and are now at their lowest level in six weeks. Gold speculator bets had ascended to over +200,000 net contracts on June 6th before the declines of the last two weeks pulled positions back to the +150,000 net position standing.
Gold Commercial Positions:
Meanwhile, the commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -165,016 contracts on the week. This was a weekly rise of 38,595 contracts from the total net of -203,611 contracts reported the previous week.
GLD (NYSE:GLD) ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the GLD ETF, which tracks the price of gold, closed at approximately $118.18 which was a drop of $-2.30 from the previous close of $120.48, according to unofficial market data.