Copper Speculators Reduced Bullish Bets

Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large precious metals speculators decreased their bullish net positions in the Copper futures markets again 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 Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 16,355 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, March 19th. This was a weekly decline of -9,212 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 25,567 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) lowering bets by -6,807 contracts to a weekly total of 82,765 contracts that combined with the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a rise by 2,405 contracts for the week to a total of 66,410 contracts.

The net speculative position fell sharply this week and is down for a second straight week with a total decline of -14,901 contracts over the 2-week period. The current position for speculators has now dipped to the lowest level of the past four weeks.

Despite the recent decreases, copper spec positions remain in bullish territory for a sixth straight week following the previous eight weeks in bearish territory.

Copper Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -21,069 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 8,600 contracts from the total net of -29,669 contracts reported the previous week.

Copper Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $292.30 which was a shortfall of $-0.55 from the previous close of $292.85, according to unofficial market data.