WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large oil speculators continued to boost 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 Monday due to the Veteran’s Day holiday.
The non-commercial futures contracts of WTI Crude Oil futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 545,206 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 7th. This was a weekly advance of 42,257 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 502,949 net contracts.
Speculative positions have now risen by +98,379 net contracts in just the past two weeks and by a total of +128,145 net contracts in the past four weeks. The current net position of 545,206 contracts is the second highest level of all time after the 556,607 net contracts that was recorded on February 21st of this year.
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 -551,407 contracts on the week. This was a weekly fall of -48,533 contracts from the total net of -502,874 contracts reported the previous week.
United States Oil (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 $11.49 which was a boost of $0.56 from the previous close of $10.93, according to unofficial market data.