Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large metals speculators sharply advanced their 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 203,288 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday January 9th. This was a weekly advance of 40,020 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 163,268 net contracts.
Speculative positions have now increased for four straight weeks and have gained by at least +20,000 net contracts in each of the past three weeks. The speculative standing is now back over the +200,000 net contract level for the first time in six weeks.
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -220,271 contracts on the week. This was a weekly shortfall of -42,671 contracts from the total net of -177,600 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 $124.73 which was a shortfall of $-0.42 from the previous close of $125.15, according to unofficial market data.