Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators lowered their bullish net positions in the Gold futures markets in the first data release for January, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The latest COT data is from early in January due to the government shutdown which halted the releases. The CFTC is releasing data on Tuesdays and Fridays going forward until the data is back up to date.
The non-commercial futures contracts of Gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 99,216 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, January 8th. This was a weekly lowering of -24,556 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 123,772 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) lowering by -10,581 contracts to a weekly total of 199,560 contracts while the gross bearish position (shorts) saw a gain by 13,975 contracts for the week to a total of 100,344 contracts.
The net speculative position had risen for five straight weeks before the January pullback. The overall net standing dipped under the +100,000 net contract level for the first time since December 18th.
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -121,187 contracts on the week. This was a weekly advance of 23,427 contracts from the total net of -144,614 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 $1285.90 which was an advance of $4.60 from the previous close of $1281.30, according to unofficial market data.