S&P 500 Mini Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large stock market speculators slightly raised their bullish net positions in the S&P 500 Mini 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 S&P 500 Mini Futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 212,309 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday April 17th. This was a weekly lift of 2,693 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 209,616 net contracts.
The speculative position had fallen for two straight weeks prior to this week’s small gain. The overall bullish position remains in a strong bullish standing above the +200,000 contract level for a fourth straight week.
Small Traders add to Bullish Bets:
The small trader category joins the speculators in having an overall bullish position with a total of +237,032 net contracts. This week’s bullish position rose for a fifth straight week and is at the highest level since March 16th 2016 when the net small trader position was a total of +258,456 net contracts.
S&P 500 Mini Commercial Positions:
Meanwhile, the commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -449,341 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decline of -9,067 contracts from the total net of -440,274 contracts reported the previous week.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY):
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the SPY ETF, which tracks the price of S&P 500 Index, closed at approximately $270.19 which was a boost of $5.04 from the previous close of $265.15, according to unofficial market data.