VIX Speculators push volatility bets to most bearish level since October 2017

April 13, 2019

April 13th – By CountingPips.comReceive our weekly COT Reports by Email

VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large volatility speculators continued to sharply bet against volatility this week by raising their bearish net positions in the VIX 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 VIX futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -164,383 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday April 9th. This was a weekly decrease of -22,900 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -141,483 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) falling by -826 contracts to a weekly total of 79,400 contracts in addition to the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a rise by 22,074 contracts for the week to a total of 243,783 contracts.

The net speculative position has now had rising bearish bets for two straight weeks (by a total of -46,213 contracts) and for three out of the past four weeks. The current standing is now at the most bearish level since October 17th of 2017 when the net position totaled -168,571 contracts.


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VIX Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business and dealing purposes, totaled a net position of 168,045 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 21,437 contracts from the total net of 146,608 contracts reported the previous week.

VIX Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $15.15 which was an advance of $0.30 from the previous close of $14.85, 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).

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