WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large oil speculators lowered 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 417,061 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday October 10th. This was a weekly decline of -27,255 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 444,316 net contracts.
Speculative net positions have dropped for two straight weeks although positions remain in a very bullish position above +400,000 net contracts. The WTI crude speculative positions have remained above the +400,000 net contract figure for four weeks in a row.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -420,170 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 32,046 contracts from the total net of -452,216 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 $10.28 which was a gain of $0.10 from the previous close of $10.18, according to unofficial market data.