Silver Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large metals speculators sharply reduced their positions in the Silver 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 Silver futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -7,196 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday May 1st. This was a weekly decline of -19,163 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 11,967 net contracts.
The silver speculative positions are back in bearish territory following a boost last week that pushed positions into bullish territory. The net silver position has now been in a bearish or short position for six out of the past seven weeks after not having seen a bearish reading since 2003.
The speculators and commercials (see below) are both negative on silver while small traders or non-reportables maintain a bullish position with a total level of +19,174 contracts this week.
Silver Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -11,978 contracts on the week. This was a weekly rise of 19,587 contracts from the total net of -31,565 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 $15.24 which was a drop of $-0.52 from the previous close of $15.76, according to unofficial market data.