Gold Speculators Pared Bullish Bets

Gold COT Futures Large Trader Positions

Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions

Large precious metals speculators once again lowered their bullish net positions in the Gold future 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 Gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 37,395 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday April 23rd. This was a weekly decrease of -18,878 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 56,273 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) falling by -6,522 contracts to a weekly total of 176,691 contracts while the gross bearish position (shorts) gained by 12,356 contracts for the week to a total of 139,296 contracts.

The speculative net position has decreased for two straight weeks (by a total of -67,969 contracts over that period) and for three out of the past four weeks. The cool off in speculator sentiment has pushed the current standing to the lowest level since November 27th when positions totaled just 1,871 net contracts.

Gold Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -57,396 contracts on the week. This was a weekly advance of 21,034 contracts from the total net of -78,430 contracts reported the previous week.

Gold COT Futures Large Trader Positions

Gold Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Gold Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $1273.20 which was a shortfall of $-4.00 from the previous close of $1277.20, according to unofficial market data.

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