Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators continued to raise their bearish net positions in the Copper Futures markets this 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 Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -19,366 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, May 14th. This was a weekly change of -6,488 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -12,878 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) declining by -243 contracts (to a weekly total of 73,379 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) gained by 6,245 contracts for the week (to a total of 92,745 contracts).
The Copper spec sentiment has now dropped for the fourth consecutive week and for the fifth time out of the past six weeks. The spec position currently resides at the most bearish level since January 22nd when positions settled at -21,913 contracts.
Speculator positioning had stayed in the positive territory from February 12th to April 23rd before the recent turn lower.
Copper Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 15,712 contracts on the week. This was a weekly advance of 7,109 contracts from the total net of 8,603 contracts reported the previous week.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $272.50 which was a fall of $-6.05 from the previous close of $278.55, according to unofficial market data.