WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large oil speculators raised their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil 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 WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 429,525 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday October 17th. This was a weekly lift of 12,464 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 417,061 net contracts.
Speculative WTI oil positions had fallen the previous two weeks before this week’s turnaround. Total net positions remain above the +400,000 net contract level for a fifth straight week.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -431,518 contracts on the week. This was a weekly fall of -11,348 contracts from the total net of -420,170 contracts reported the previous week.
USO (NYSE:USO):
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the USO Crude Oil ETF, which tracks the price of WTI crude oil, closed at approximately $10.49 which was a rise of $0.21 from the previous close of $10.28, according to unofficial market data.