S&P 500 Mini Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large stock market speculators lifted their bullish net positions in the S&P 500 Mini 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 S&P 500 Mini futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 239,372 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday October 23rd. This was a weekly rise of 12,580 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 226,792 net contracts.
Speculators rebooted their bullish bets this week after a down week (-29,027 contracts) last week. Despite the recent stock market corrections, speculators have now raised their bullish bets in five out of the past six weeks. The current position remains above the +200,000 contract level for a fourth week in a row.
S&P 500 Mini Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -272,708 contracts on the week. This was a weekly shortfall of -27,301 contracts from the total net of -245,407 contracts reported the previous week.
S&P 500 Mini Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the S&P 500 Mini Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $2746.25 which was a drop of $-71.50 from the previous close of $2817.75, according to unofficial market data.