June 15th – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email
VIX Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large volatility speculators increased their bearish bets 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 -91,182 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday June 11th. This was a weekly change of -5,672 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -85,510 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) sliding by -8,182 contracts (to a weekly total of 84,391 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) fell by just -2,510 contracts for the week (to a total of 175,573 contracts).
Speculators raised their bearish bets this week and for the third time in the past four weeks.
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The spec bearish position, despite these recent gains, has really cooled off after reaching a record high bearish position (-180,359 contracts) on April 30th. The following weeks to the record high saw deep reductions (+90,000 contracts) of the bearish positions.
Currently, the bearish standing remains under -100,000 contract level for the second straight week.
VIX Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 96,920 contracts on the week. This was a weekly gain of 8,632 contracts from the total net of 88,288 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 $17.12 which was a decline of $-0.10 from the previous close of $17.22, 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
