Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators pushed their bearish net positions higher in the Copper Futures markets last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday (delayed due to July 4th holiday).
The non-commercial futures contracts of Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -29,216 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday July 2nd. This was a weekly change of -2,677 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -26,539 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) rising by 3,181 contracts (to a weekly total of 76,478 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) gained by 5,858 contracts for the week (to a total of 105,694 contracts).
The large speculators continued to up their bearish bets in Copper for a second consecutive week and for the tenth time out of the past eleven weeks.
The overall speculator standing has now been in bearish territory for ten straight weeks and has been above the -20,000 net contract level for seven straight weeks which comes in as the longest such streak since May and June of 2016 (which topped out at 7 weeks).
Copper Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 25,027 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 2,865 contracts from the total net of 22,162 contracts reported the previous week.
Copper Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $266.40 which was a fall of $-7.10 from the previous close of $273.50, according to unofficial market data.