WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large energy speculators continued to decrease 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 449,366 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, September 8th. This was a weekly drop of -41,549 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 490,915 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) falling by -28,235 contracts (to a weekly total of 637,225 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) rose by 13,314 contracts for the week (to a total of 187,859 contracts).
Crude Oil speculators decreased their bullish bets this week for the fifth consecutive week and for the sixth time in the past seven weeks. This week’s decline (-41,549 contracts) marked the largest one-week fall of the past eighteen weeks, dating back to May 5th. Overall, the bullish standing is now below the +500,000 net contract level for a second straight week following a streak of twenty straight weeks above that threshold previously.
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 -480,182 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 47,054 contracts from the total net of -527,236 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 $36.76 which was a fall of $-6.00 from the previous close of $42.76, according to unofficial market data.