Silver speculative positions declined last week
Silver Futures (CMX): Silver speculators and large futures traders cut back on their silver bullish bets last week for a third straight week and to the lowest level since December, 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 Comex silver futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of +24,325 contracts in the data reported through April 21st. This was a weekly change of -10,220 contracts from the previous week’s total of +34,545 net contracts that was registered on April 14th.
The fall in the net speculator positions reflects a decrease in the weekly bullish positions by -569 contracts combined with an increase in the weekly bearish positions by +9,651 contracts to total the weekly change of -10,220 contracts.
Silver bullish bets are now at the lowest level since December 2nd when total positions equaled +21,591 contracts.
Over the weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday April 14th to Tuesday April 21st, the silver price slid slightly from approximately $16.16 to $16.00, according to silver futures price data from investing.com.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Silver Positions
| Date | Open Interest | Specs Long | Chg Specs Long | Specs Short | Chg Specs Short | Pct OI Specs Long | Pct OI Specs Short | Net Specs | Weekly Chg |
| 03/17/2015 | 178524 | 61649 | 3683 | 37238 | 5244 | 34.5 | 20.9 | 24411 | -1561 |
| 03/24/2015 | 172659 | 62332 | 683 | 30209 | -7029 | 36.1 | 17.5 | 32123 | 7712 |
| 03/31/2015 | 170105 | 65426 | 3094 | 22314 | -7895 | 38.5 | 13.1 | 43112 | 10989 |
| 04/07/2015 | 169700 | 63241 | -2185 | 21160 | -1154 | 37.3 | 12.5 | 42081 | -1031 |
| 04/14/2015 | 177877 | 61417 | -1824 | 26872 | 5712 | 34.5 | 15.1 | 34545 | -7536 |
| 04/21/2015 | 182633 | 60848 | -569 | 36523 | 9651 | 33.3 | 20 | 24325 | -10220 |
*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).