WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large energy speculators continued to increase their record high net bullish 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 614,497 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 12th. This was a weekly rise of 3,369 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 611,128 net contracts.
Speculative positions have now made record highs for three weeks in a row with oil speculators essentially all-in on oil prices going higher. This is definitely a market to watch as extreme positioning like this can be a catalyst for sudden reversals if prices fail to go higher and speculators start to close-out positions which can create a stampede out of the current levels.
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 -629,330 contracts on the week. This was a weekly shortfall of -6,070 contracts from the total net of -623,260 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 $11.44 which was a decline of $-0.10 from the previous close of $11.54, according to unofficial market data.