Crude Oil WTI Futures Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large energy speculators lowered their bullish net positions in the WTI Crude Oil futures markets for a second week 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 668,533 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday March 13th. This was a weekly decline of -17,974 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 686,507 net contracts.
Speculative positions have now fallen for four out of the past five weeks and by a total of -35,571 contracts over the past two weeks. The overall position remains strongly bullish but is now below the +700,000 net contract level for a second week in a row.
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 -697,364 contracts on the week. This was a weekly boost of 17,184 contracts from the total net of -714,548 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 $12.24 which was a decrease of $-0.33 from the previous close of $12.57, according to unofficial market data.