Crude Oil Speculators Sharply Reduced Net Bullish Positions Last Week
Zachary Storella | Aug 16, 2015 01:49AM ET
Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
CFTC COT data shows large speculator oil bets fell to +225,843 net contracts
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators sharply cut their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week to the lowest level since March, 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 +225,843 contracts in the data reported for August 11th. This was a change of -21,250 contracts from the previous week’s total of +247,093 net contracts for the data reported through August 4th.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures edged up by just 179 contracts while the short positions increased by 21,429 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -21,250 contracts.
The decline in net bullish positions of the speculators brings the overall level to the lowest level since March 24th when net positions equaled +206,887 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) reduced their existing bearish positions to a net total position of -232,425 contracts through August 11th. This is a weekly change of +9,863 contracts from the total net amount of -242,288 contracts on August 4th.
USO Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday August 4th to Tuesday August 11th, the United States Oil (NYSE:USO) Oil ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, dropped from $15.22 to $14.48, according to ETF data for the USO United States Oil Fund LP ETF.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Change OI | Net Commercial Positions | Weekly Com Changes | Net Large Specs Positions | Weekly Spec Changes |
| 20150707 | 1691891 | 21800 | -290876 | 40795 | 296160 | -32019 |
| 20150714 | 1733695 | 41804 | -256902 | 33974 | 264387 | -31773 |
| 20150721 | 1668737 | -64958 | -257138 | -236 | 253683 | -10704 |
| 20150728 | 1694436 | 25699 | -243608 | 13530 | 243419 | -10264 |
| 20150804 | 1736523 | 42087 | -242288 | 1320 | 247093 | 3674 |
| 20150811 | 1676233 | -60290 | -232425 | 9863 | 225843 | -21250 |
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*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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