Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
CFTC COT data shows speculator’s pushed oil bets higher last week
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators sharply raised their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week and have pushed bullish positions higher for five straight weeks, 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 +259,429 contracts in the data reported for September 22nd. This was a change of +20,043 contracts from the previous week’s total of +239,386 net contracts for the data reported through September 15th.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures rose by 3,385 contracts and combined with the short positions that declined by -16,658 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of +20,043 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) increased their existing bearish positions to a net total position of -249,771 contracts through September 22nd. This is a weekly change of -10,813 contracts from the total net amount of -238,958 contracts on September 15th.
United States Oil (NYSE:USO) ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday September 15th to Tuesday September 22nd, the USO Oil ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, advanced from $14.57 to $14.92, according to ETF data for the USO United States Oil Fund LP ETF.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader 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).
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