Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
CFTC COT data shows speculator’s continued to bail out of oil bets
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators sharply decreased their overall bullish bets in WTI crude oil futures last week and have now pushed bullish bets lower for three straight weeks, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial contracts of crude oil futures, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, totaled a net position of +158,987 contracts in the data reported for February 16th. This was a weekly change of -28,890 contracts from the previous week’s total of +187,877 net contracts for the data reported through February 9th.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures dropped by -26,860 contracts and combined with the short positions that grew by 2,030 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -28,890 contracts.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
In the commercial positions for oil on the week, the commercials (hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes) reduced their existing bearish positions to a net total position of -168,995 contracts through February 16th. This is a weekly change of +31,891 contracts from the total net amount of -200,886 contracts on February 9th.
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time frame, from Tuesday February 9th to Tuesday February 16th, the United States Oil (N:USO) ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, edged slightly higher from $8.18 to $8.31, according to ETF data for the USO United States Oil Fund LP ETF.
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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