WTI Crude Oil Speculators dropped their bullish bets for 4th straight week

May 25, 2019

May 25th – By CountingPips.comReceive our weekly COT Reports by Email

WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large energy speculators continued to reduce 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 478,398 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday May 21st. This was a weekly decrease of -9,410 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 487,808 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) falling by -22,000 contracts (to a weekly total of 585,979 contracts) that more than offset the gross bearish position (shorts) which decreased by -12,590 contracts for the week (to a total of 107,581 contracts).

The net speculative position declined for a fourth straight week and for the fifth time out of the past six weeks. Previously the speculator bets had gained for eight straight weeks and by a total of +228,448 contracts in that period through April 9th.


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The overall position remains in a relatively strong bullish level with the net position staying above the +400,000 contract level for a tenth straight week.

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 -501,886 contracts on the week. This was a weekly boost of 6,993 contracts from the total net of -508,879 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 $63.13 which was an uptick of $1.35 from the previous close of $61.78, 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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