VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators continued to add to their bearish net 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 -95,218 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday July 21st. This was a weekly change of -6,850 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -88,368 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) gaining by 3,238 contracts (to a weekly total of 52,598 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) rose by 10,088 contracts for the week (to a total of 147,816 contracts).
VIX speculators continued to increase their bearish positions for a fifth consecutive week and for the eighth time in the past nine weeks. The bearish position has now risen by a total of -60,186 net contracts over the past nine weeks. This boost in bearish sentiment has pushed the current overall net position (-95,218 contracts) to the most bearish level since February 18th (-130,229 contracts), a span of twenty-two weeks.
VIX Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 103,163 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 7,112 contracts from the total net of 96,051 contracts reported the previous week.
VIX Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $24.83 which was a shortfall of $-4.82 from the previous close of $29.65, according to unofficial market data.