Due to the US government shutdown, there is no CFTC COT data for the week ending 7 Oct. This includes WTI, RBOB, Heating Oil, and Henry Hub.Â
In the week ending 7 Oct, Brent futures saw a dip in prices from $67.66/bbl on 30 Sep to $64.06/bbl on 2 Oct, before finding support and rising to $65.70/bbl on 7 Oct. Money managers reduced their long positions for the third consecutive week, down 41mb (-12.97%), the fastest pace seen since July. Simultaneously, they increased their shorts by 20mb (+16.91%) for a second week, the sharpest rise since mid-August 2025. These weekly changes in speculative positioning resulted in a -60.8mb drop (-30.04%) in net long positioning to 141.7mb. As compared to historical levels, this is well below the yearly and 5-year averages (188mb and 200mb, respectively), reflecting a relatively risk-off market. Producers/merchants were risk-off in the week ending 7 Oct, liquidating from their longs and shorts (-1.60% and -3.60%, respectively). This de-risking reflects an unwinding of refiner and producer hedging, respectively. Swap positions have increased their longs by +14mb (+3.30%) while trimming their shorts by -8mb (-12.95%). Other reportable players also added to their long and short positions this week, perhaps providing liquidity to the risk-off speculative long players. Open interest in ICE Brent futures decreased in the week ending 7 Oct, by 78mb (-2.65%). Open interest now sits only 6% above its Oct 2019-2024 max of 2,736mb.
