Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators raised their bullish net positions in the Gold 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 Gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 190,922 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday February 20th. This was a weekly rise of 15,316 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 175,606 net contracts.
Speculator positions had fallen for three straight weeks (by a total of -39,078 contracts) before this week’s rebound. The overall bullish position has now remained under the +200,000 net contract level for a third consecutive week.
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -214,878 contracts on the week. This was a weekly shortfall of -20,342 contracts from the total net of -194,536 contracts reported the previous week.
GLD ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the GLD ETF, which tracks the price of gold, closed at approximately $126.24 which was an increase of $0.16 from the previous close of $126.08, according to unofficial market data.