WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Speculators reduced their bullish net positions in the Crude Oil WTI 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 480,629 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday August 8th. This was a weekly decrease of -6,136 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 486,765 net contracts.
Speculative positions had risen for five straight weeks and by just over 159,000 contracts in that time frame before this week’s decline. Despite the weekly shortfall, net bullish positions are above the +400,000 contract level for a third consecutive week.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -476,742 contracts on the week. This was a weekly advance of 8,393 contracts from the total net of -485,135 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 $10.06 which was a edge lower of $-0.03 from the previous close of $10.09, according to unofficial market data.