Crude Oil Speculators Boosted Net Bullish Positions 4th Straight Week
Zachary Storella | Sep 20, 2015 01:31AM ET
Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
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FTC COT data shows speculators again pushed oil bets higher last week
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators raised their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week for a fourth consecutive week and to the highest level since early August, 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 +239,386 contracts in the data reported for September 15th. This was a change of +7,956 contracts from the previous week’s total of +231,430 net contracts for the data reported through September 8th.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures fell by -4,330 contracts but were overshadowed by the short positions that declined by -12,286 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of +7,956 contracts.
Speculative bullish bets are now at the highest level since August 4th when total net positions equaled +247,093 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) increased their existing bearish positions to a net total position of -238,958 contracts through September 15th. This is a weekly change of -12,552 contracts from the total net amount of -226,406 contracts on September 8th.
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday September 8th to Tuesday September 15th, the United States Oil ETF (NYSE:USO), which tracks the WTI crude oil price, dipped from $15.02 to $14.68, 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).
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