Crude Oil Speculators resume decrease in overall net bullish positions, lowest since June 2013

By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report

Oil Speculators overall long positions fall after small gain the previous week

CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large speculators dropped their overall bullish bets in crude oil futures last week after bets had gained for the first time in several months the previous 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 crude oil futures, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, declined to a total net position of +267,304 contracts in the data reported for October 28th. This was a change of -12,797 contracts from the previous week’s total of +280,101 net contracts for the data reported through October 21st.

For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures fell slightly by a total of 2,263 contracts but were offset by a gain in the short positions by 10,534 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -12,797 contracts.

The non-commercial trader’s net position had dropped every week since June 24th 2014 (sixteen straight weeks) before a slight increase on October 21st. After the decline on October 28th, the overall net position is now at its lowest level since June 4th 2013 when net positions equaled +255,834 contracts.

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday October 21st to Tuesday October 28th, the WTI crude oil price edged lower from $82.49 to $81.42 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, also rose from $86.22 to $86.03 per barrel from Tuesday October 21st to Tuesday October 28th, according to price data from investing.com.

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions

*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). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

Article by CountingPips.com – Forex Trading News