WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large energy speculators edged their bullish net positions lower in the WTI Crude 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 436,013 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, March 24th. This was a weekly decline of -4,224 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 440,237 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) gaining by 5,547 contracts (to a weekly total of 578,366 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) got a boost by 9,771 contracts for the week (to a total of 142,353 contracts).
Crude oil speculators trimmed their bullish positions this week for the third time in four weeks and following a bullish jump in positions last week by a total of +52,840 contracts. Speculator positions remain strongly bullish despite the recent substantial selloff in crude oil prices with the current standing (+436,013 contracts) above the 2019 average speculator level of +412,127 contracts and just below this year’s average speculator level of +447,441 contracts.
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 -466,893 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decrease of -10,295 contracts from the total net of -456,598 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 $24.01 which was a shortfall of $-3.32 from the previous close of $27.33, according to unofficial market data.