CFTC Weekly: Short on positioning

In the week ending 6 May, managed-by-money players were risk-on in the benchmark crude futures contracts (Brent + WTI), adding a combined 6.9mb (+1.7%) to their cumulative Brent and WTI longs while adding a more substantial 28.8mb (+17%) to their short positions. This risk-on nature was more closely reflected in WTI futures, which saw a rise in speculative long and short positioning. By contrast, these players removed some of their ICE Brent long positions while adding to their Brent shorts. Nevertheless, open interest (OI) climbed in both the crude benchmarks, with ICE Brent recording a 0.77% rise in OI w/w to 2,931mb, while WTI futures saw a 4.5% increase in OI to 1,982mb.