Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large metals speculators continued to decrease 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 167,948 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday March 13th. This was a weekly decline of -15,875 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 183,823 net contracts.
Speculative positions have declined for two out of the past three weeks and for five out of the past seven weeks to the lowest standing since January 2nd. Gold net positions have now been under the +200,000 contract level for six straight weeks after falling below that level on January 30th.
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -188,810 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 16,093 contracts from the total net of -204,903 contracts reported the previous week.
GLD (NYSE: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 $125.78 which was a shortfall of $-0.75 from the previous close of $126.53, according to unofficial market data.