Crude Oil WTI Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large energy speculators decreased 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 580,947 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday June 19th. This was a weekly reduction of -14,346 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 595,293 net contracts.
Speculative crude oil bets continue to drop as bullish positions have now fallen for eight out of the past nine weeks to the lowest level since November 21st of 2017 when the standing was +577,078 net contracts.
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 -620,073 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 20,675 contracts from the total net of -640,748 contracts reported the previous week.
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 $13.14 which was a decline of $-0.26 from the previous close of $13.40, according to unofficial market data.