Portfolio managers further increased their long positions on the most traded petroleum contracts, with bullish bets focusing almost entirely on the US benchmark WTI Crude, Reuters columnist John Kemp wrote in an analysis of the latest stock market data.
In the week to February 9, hedge funds and other money managers bought the equivalent of 33 million barrels in the six most traded oil futures and options contracts. The purchase was mainly focused on WTI Crude, where the long position increased by the equivalent of 30 million barrels in the week to Feb. to stretch. like Texas, says Kemp.
Long positions in petroleum contracts have now risen for 14 consecutive weeks, which, according to Kemp, is the longest and largest increase in bullish bets on oil since early 2019.
Hopes of higher WTI Crude prices came true this week, and WTI Crude prices rose above $ 60 a barrel for the first time in more than 13 months on Monday. The last time WTI Crude traded above $ 60 was in early January 2020, before the pandemic worried traders and fund managers.
In the week to February 9, position extremes above or near the one-year highest level were observed for multiple commodities, from crude oil and products to copper and corn, said Ole Hansen, head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank. Monday in a commentary on the commitments of Traders report.
The combined net long position in Brent and WTI – the difference between bullish and bearish bets – rose to a 28-month high of 727,500 lots, the report found.
This is still 33 percent below the March 2018 record of 1.1 million lottery tickets, says Hansen of Saxo Bank.
“While short-term momentum indicators started calling for consolidation last week, long-short ratios remain low, an indication that speculative length has even more room to grow before trading starts to look busy,” he added .
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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