April 20th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
S&P500 Mini Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large stock market speculators boosted their net positions in the S&P500 Mini 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 S&P500 Mini futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 15,973 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday April 16th. This was a weekly lift of 19,112 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -3,139 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) increasing by 23,134 contracts to a weekly total of 402,612 contracts which overcame a small gain by the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a lift by 4,022 contracts for the week to a total of 386,639 contracts.
The net speculative position rose back into bullish territory with a total of +15,973 contracts after a drop into short territory last week. Speculative bets had been in bearish standing from January 22nd until March 26th when weekly positions jumped by over 72,000 contracts and went overall positive.
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S&P500 Mini Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 17,316 contracts on the week. This was a weekly decline of -10,907 contracts from the total net of 28,223 contracts reported the previous week.
With both the speculators and commercials slightly bullish, this leaves the small traders position as the ones betting against a rise in SP500-Mini contracts.
The small traders position (not charted) is at a total of -33,289 net contracts for the week through Tuesday April 16th. The small traders have had a sudden change of sentiment in the past two months going from +109,954 contracts on February 26th to their bearish position this week.
S&P500 Mini Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the S&P500 Mini Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $2911.50 which was an advance of $29.0 from the previous close of $2882.50, according to unofficial market data.
*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the most recent Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets.
The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators).
Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).
Article By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
