WTI Crude Oil 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 546,272 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, June 16th. This was a weekly drop of -21,637 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 567,909 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) falling by -26,451 contracts (to a weekly total of 706,483 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) fell by a lesser amount of -4,814 contracts for the week (to a total of 160,211 contracts).
Crude Oil speculative bets fell for a second straight week and this week’s decline marked the largest one-week shortfall in the past six weeks. Despite these recent setbacks, speculator bullish positions have been very strong with gains in seven of the past eleven weeks. The overall net position has now been above the +500,000 net contract level for ten straight weeks.
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 -580,309 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 28,254 contracts from the total net of -608,563 contracts reported the previous week.
WTI Crude Oil Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the WTI Crude Oil Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $38.38 which was a shortfall of $-0.56 from the previous close of $38.94, according to unofficial market data.