10 Year Treasury Note Speculators Sharply Cut Their Net Bullish Position

CFTC Futures data shows speculators positions down for three weeks

10 Year Treasury Note Non-Commercial Positions:

Large 10-year treasury note futures traders and speculators sharply reduced their overall bullish positions last week and decreased their positions for a third straight 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 the 10-year treasury notes, primarily traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of +26,619 contracts in the data reported for August 16th. This was a weekly change of -91,626 net contracts from the previous week’s total of +118,245 net contracts that was recorded on August 9th.

The sharp decrease in bullish positions brought the speculative level down to the lowest standing since June 7th when bullish positions equaled +15,195 contracts.

10 Year US Treasury Note Commercial Positions:

In the commercial positions for the 10-year note on the week, the commercials (hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes) turned from an overall bearish positions to a bullish position last week with bullish positions totaling a net position of +30,180 contracts through August 16th. This is a weekly change of +97,550 contracts from the total net position of -67,370 contracts on August 9th.

IEF 7-10 Year Bond ETF:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday August 9th to Tuesday August 16th, the 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF declined from 112.22 to 111.86, according to ETF data for the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:IEF).

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).