VIX NON-COMMERCIAL SPECULATOR POSITIONS:
VIX COT Futures Large Trade Positions
Large volatility speculators increased their bearish net positions in the VIX futures markets once again 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 -78,456 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, July 7th. This was a weekly change of -7,045 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -71,411 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) ascending by 7,074 contracts (to a weekly total of 50,528 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) jumped by 14,119 contracts for the week (to a total of 128,984 contracts).
VIX speculators continued to raise their bearish bets for a third straight week and for the sixth time in the past seven weeks. These gains have now pushed the bearish speculator standing to the highest level in the past sixteen weeks at almost -80,000 contracts. The speculator position is now above the 2020 weekly average of -72,614 contracts as sentiment for a lower VIX price grows.
VIX COMMERCIAL POSITIONS:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 87,006 contracts on the week. This was a weekly uptick of 11,096 contracts from the total net of 75,910 contracts reported the previous week.
VIX COT Futures Large Trade Positions.
VIX FUTURES:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the VIX Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $30.64 which was a loss of $-0.15 from the previous close of $30.79, according to unofficial market data.