WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large energy speculators boosted their bullish net positions in the Crude Oil WTI 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 707,080 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday April 10th. This was a weekly lift of 7,535 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 699,545 net contracts.
The speculative bullish position advanced back over the +700,000 contract level after dipping slightly below this threshold last week. The net position has now been over the +700,000 contract standing for three out of the past four weeks and for six out of the past ten weeks.
The current net position is still in the vicinity of the all-time high record of +739,097 contracts that was registered on February 6th.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -727,676 contracts on the week. This was a weekly loss of -3,112 contracts from the total net of -724,564 contracts reported the previous week.
USO (NYSE:USO):
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the USO Crude Oil ETF, which tracks the price of WTI crude oil, closed at approximately $13.25 which was a rise of $0.44 from the previous close of $12.81, according to unofficial market data.