Copper Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large precious metals speculators increased their bearish net positions in the Copper 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 Copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -46,773 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday October 1st. This was a weekly change of -6,034 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -40,739 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) going up by just 66 contracts (to a weekly total of 71,271 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) rose by 6,100 contracts for the week (to a total of 118,044 contracts).

Copper speculators pushed their bearish bets higher for a second straight week after a cool off on bearish positions in the previous two weeks. The speculative standing had recently risen to an all-time record bearish high on July 27th and again on August 3rd with both weeks coming in above the -58,000 contract threshold. The gains in bearish bets of the last two weeks have brought the current level back over the -45,000 net contract for the first time in four weeks.

Copper Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 43,046 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 5,688 contracts from the total net of 37,358 contracts reported the previous week.

Copper Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Copper Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $256.05 which was a shortfall of $-4.60 from the previous close of $260.65, 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).