VIX Speculators Pushed Bearish Bets To 10-Week High
Zachary Storella | May 31, 2020 12:59AM ET
Large volatility speculators raised their bearish net positions in the VIX 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 VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -42,629 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday May 26th. This was a weekly change of -7,597 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -35,032 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) decreasing by -8,507 contracts (to a weekly total of 46,141 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) fell by just -910 contracts on the week (to a total of 88,770 contracts).
VIX speculators added to their bearish bets for the third time in the past four weeks and have added a total of -23,658 contracts to the bearish position in that time-frame. This has moved the bearish standing to the highest level of the past ten weeks. Overall, the VIX has continued to be in a bearish position for seventy-two straight weeks, dating back to January of 2019.
h3 VIX Commercial Positions:/h3The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 48,950 contracts on the week. This was a weekly advance of 7,405 contracts from the total net of 41,545 contracts reported the previous week.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $29.62 which was a loss of $-2.45 from the previous close of $32.07, according to unofficial market data.
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