Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators raised their bullish net positions higher 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 236,554 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, June 25th. This was a weekly boost of 32,231 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 204,323 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) gaining by 23,475 contracts (to a weekly total of 298,108 contracts) and combined with the gross bearish position (shorts) that fell by -8,756 contracts for the week (to a total of 61,554 contracts).
Spec Sentiment Strengthens
The gold large speculator position rose sharply for a fourth straight week and has risen by a total of just about +150,000 net contracts in these last four weeks. The gold speculator position had recently been as low as +37,395 contracts on April 23rd (just 10 weeks ago) before seeing a bullish surge in sentiment and shooting to higher levels over these past 10 weeks.
Gold bets are above the +200,000 contract level for a second straight week and are now at the highest level since September 9th of 2017.
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -260,150 contracts on the week. This was a weekly fall of -36,295 contracts from the total net of -223,855 contracts reported the previous week.
Gold Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Gold Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $1418.70 which was an increase of $68.00 from the previous close of $1350.70, according to unofficial market data.