Weekly Large Trader COT Report: WTI Crude Oil
CFTC COT data shows speculator’s added to bullish oil bets
WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Futures market traders and large oil speculators raised their overall bullish bets in WTI oil futures last week for a third straight week and to the highest level since August 4th, 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 +231,430 contracts in the data reported for September 8th. This was a change of +11,088 contracts from the previous week’s total of +220,342 net contracts for the data reported through September 1st.
For the week, the standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures rose by 2,972 contracts and combined with the short positions that fell by -8,116 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of +11,088 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 -226,406 contracts through September 8th. This is a weekly change of -7,336 contracts from the total net amount of -219,070 contracts on September 1st.
United States Oil (NYSE:USO) Crude Oil ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday September 1st to Tuesday September 8th, the USO Oil ETF, which tracks the WTI crude oil price, rose from $14.81 to $15.02, according to ETF data for the USO United States Oil Fund LP ETF.
*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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