WTI Crude Oil Speculators Boost Net Positions For First Time In 3 Weeks
Zachary Storella | Jan 24, 2016 04:50AM ET
Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
CFTC COT data shows speculator’s raised oil bets higher last week
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators increased their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week following two weeks of declining bullish bets, 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 +179,372 contracts in the data reported for January 19th. This was a change of +15,868 contracts from the previous week’s total of +163,504 net contracts for the data reported through January 12th.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures fell by -17,021 contracts but were overtaken by a larger decline in the short positions that dropped by -32,889 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of +15,868 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 -191,047 contracts through January 19th. This is a weekly change of -12,807 contracts from the total net amount of -178,240 contracts on January 12th.
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday January 12th to Tuesday January 19th, the USO Oil ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, declined from $9.17 to $8.49, according to ETF data for the N: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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