Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators cut back on their bearish net positions in the Copper futures markets this week after falling to a record bearish level recently, 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 -48,945 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday August 20th. This was a weekly change of 4,655 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -53,600 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) falling by -718 contracts (to a weekly total of 75,489 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) fell further by a total of -5,373 contracts for the week (to a total of 124,434 contracts).
Copper bets have now improved for a second straight week after having fallen in thirteen of the previous sixteen weeks. This downtrend in speculator sentiment had brought the spec position from a total of +2,126 contracts on April 23rd to a new all-time record bearish position of -58,449 contracts on August 6th.
The modest turnaround of the past two weeks has pulled the bearish position slightly back under the -50,000 contract level for the first time in three weeks.
Copper Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 47,237 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decline of -6,087 contracts from the total net of 53,324 contracts reported the previous week.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $257.80 which was a fall of $-5.20 from the previous close of $263.00, according to unofficial market data.