VIX Futures Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators continued to raise their net bearish positions in the VIX 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 VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -57,550 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday June 19th. This was a weekly decline of -4,204 contracts from the previous week which had a total of -53,346 net contracts.
The speculative net positioning continues to see higher levels of bearishness as spec short levels have gained for nine out of the past ten weeks after establishing a record high bullish position on April 10th (+92,913 contracts). The current net position is currently at the most bearish since late January.
VIX Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 65,829 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 8,713 contracts from the total net of 57,116 contracts reported the previous week.
VIX:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX, which tracks the volatility of the S&P 500, closed at approximately 13.35 which was an advance of 1.01 from the previous close of 12.34, according to unofficial market data.