WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:
Large oil speculators pulled back on their bullish net positions in the WTI crude oil futures markets last week after recording a record high level the week prior, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial contracts of WTI crude futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 525,254 contracts in the data reported through February 28th. This was a weekly decline of -31,353 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 556,607 net contracts.
Speculators had sharply added to their net positions the previous two weeks and brought positions to a record high of 556,607 net contracts before last week’s decline. Net bullish speculative positions are still above the +500,000 contracts level for a third straight week.
WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:
Meanwhile, the commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or large traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net bearish position of -546,016 contracts last week. This was a weekly change of 25,769 contracts from the total net of -571,785 contracts reported the previous week.
USO (NYSE:USO) Crude Oil ETF:
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 $11.45 which was a dip of $-0.09 from the previous close of $11.54, according to ETF market data.