Gold Speculators Lowered Bullish Bets

New York (Mar 17)  Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions: Large precious metals speculators reduced their bullish net positions in the Gold 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 Gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 78,819 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, March 12th. This was a weekly decrease of -9,199 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 88,018 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) going up by 2,622 contracts to a weekly total of 205,250 contracts but were more than offset by the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw an advance by 11,821 contracts for the week to a total of 126,431 contracts.

The net speculator position has now fallen for three straight weeks and by a total of -66,828 contracts over that period. Despite the recent weakness, gold positions remain in bullish territory and have been above the +75,000 net contract threshold for thirteen straight weeks.

Gold Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -108,474 contracts on the week. This was a weekly increase of 5,523 contracts from the total net of -113,997 contracts reported the previous week.

Gold Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Gold Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $1298.10 which was an advance of $13.40 from the previous close of $1284.70, according to unofficial market data.

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