WTI Crude Oil Speculators Boosted Net Bullish Positions Last Week
Zachary Storella | Feb 19, 2017 05:50AM ET
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Large speculators and traders continued to push their bullish net positions higher in the WTI crude oil futures markets last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial contracts of WTI crude futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 508,456 contracts in the data reported through February 14th. This was a weekly gain of 31,466 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 476,990 net contracts.
Speculators have now increased their net bullish position for the fourth week out of the last five and gone from slightly under +300,000 net bullish contracts in late November to above +500,000 contracts in February.
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, raised their bearish net position to -526,417 contracts last week. This was a weekly change of -21,934 contracts from the total net of -504,483 contracts reported the previous week.
USO Crude Oil ETF (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 $11.38 which was a rise of $0.19 from the previous close of $11.19, according to ETF market data.
Get The News You Want
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.