Money Managers’ Positions in Brent and WTI Crude Futures
For the week to 25 June, money managers displayed major bullishness in the Brent and the WTI futures benchmarks, increasing their long positions by 44.3mb (+9.45%) whilst reducing their short positions by 11.9mb (-8.21%), bringing their net position up to 379.6mb (+17.39%). Managed by money players in both benchmarks increased length and removed short positions in the week to 25 June. In the week to 25 June, bullish sentiment in ICE Brent futures persisted, adding 10mb (+4.26%), despite a milder increase than the previous week. overall speculative net length increased by 12.2 mb (+8.6%) to nearly 155 mb. The September Brent futures contract traded between $83-$85/bbl, peaking at $84.10/bbl on 25 June. In WTI, managed-by-money players added 34mb to long positions (+14.93%) and cut 10mb of shorts (-21.10%), resulting in a net length increase of 44 mb (+24.36%) to 224.6 mb. Despite Cushing stocks showing a build of 307kb, WTI prices rose to $81.90/bbl on 25 June, supported by a weakening USD and buoyed by market reactions to economic events such as the PCE release. Both markets saw a decline in open interest, reflecting a broader trend of reduced risk exposure…
