WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Speculators increased their optimism in the Crude Oil WTI Futures markets by raising bullish bets for a third consecutive 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 396,459 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday July 18th. This was a weekly increase of 38,434 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 358,025 net contracts.
The gain in speculative bets this week brings the bullish bets of the past three weeks to a total of 69,271 net contracts. The overall bullish level is now at the best standing since April 25th which saw a total of +411,822 net contracts.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
Meanwhile, 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 -398,320 contracts on the week. This was a weekly drop of -36,949 contracts from the total net of -361,371 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 $9.54 which was a gain of $0.27 from the previous close of $9.27, according to unofficial market data.