Silver Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large metals speculators cut back on their net positions in the Silver futures markets this week and pushed bets into a new bearish standing, 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 Silver futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -2,836 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday August 7th. This was a weekly reduction of -7,177 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 4,341 net contracts.
Speculative positions have declined for two straight weeks and for eight out of the past nine weeks. The overall position is back in bearish territory for the first time in fourteen weeks (since -121 contracts on May 8th).
Silver Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -12,376 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 9,742 contracts from the total net of -22,118 contracts reported the previous week.
iShares Silver (NYSE:SLV) ETF:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the SLV ishares ETF, which tracks the price of silver, closed at approximately $14.17 which was a shortfall of $-0.26 from the previous close of $14.43, according to unofficial market data.