WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large speculators raised their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil futures markets this week following three straight weekly declines, 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 341,047 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday July 3rd. This was a weekly boost of 13,859 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 327,188 net contracts.
Crude speculative positions had dropped by over -55,000 net contracts in the previous three weeks before this week’s rebound. The speculative position has now been under the +400,000 contract level for ten straight weeks after falling below this threshold on April 25th.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -338,146 contracts on the week. This was a weekly rise of 8,192 contracts from the total net of -346,338 contracts reported the previous week.
USO (NYSE:USO)
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the USO Crude Oil ETF, which tracks the price of WTI crude oil, closed at approximately $9.62 which was an increase of $0.52 from the previous close of $9.1, according to unofficial market data.