Vincent Wu
Research Associate, Flux
CFTC Weekly: Short Covering Continues
Brent saw heavy liquidation and Short covering continued in the products
Published: February 9, 2026
Written by:
Vincent Wu
13 page report
In the week ending 03 Feb, money managers undertook diametrically opposing positioning changes in both crude benchmarks. The main concerns across markets continued to be tensions between Iran and the US.
- There was opposing positioning in the respective crude benchmarks, with Brent seeing OI drop -6.9% as prod/merc long and short players removed -11.7% and -8.6%, respectively. This is the largest w/w liquidation in Brent futures since March 2013. Long and short managed by money positions in Brent dropped by -1.4% and -20.4%. This is the largest drop in short fund positions in 7 weeks.
- Open interest in WTI rose by around +2.7% in the week to 03 Feb. Funds were comparatively bullish in WTI, adding +7.5% to length and removing -3.9% from their shorts. This is the lowest fund short positions have been in WTI since the week to 30 Sep 2025.
- In the week to 03 Feb, price action in M1 Brent rose to its highest since 31 Jun, seeing an intraday high of $71.79/bbl on 29 Jan. The contract continued to see support at the 200-day moving average and closed at around $68.20/bbl on 03 Feb.
- In the refined products, ICE gasoil continued to see managed by money net positioning increase, as it rose +8.3% in the week to its highest in 11 weeks. Volatility in the crack was high and driven by geopolitical developments. This increase in net positioning from funds was also seen in heating oil. Short fund positions dropped by -8.9mb, which is the largest w/w drop since the week to 20 May 2025.
- In a similar trend to the previous week, money managers were risk off in US natural gas (Henry Hub), but the scale of short side liquidation allowed for net positioning from funds rising to its highest level since 15 April 2025. There has been a -45% drop in managed money short positions in Henry Hub in the past 3 weeks.
- In the week to 03 Feb, price action in M1 Henry Hub surpassed $7.800/MMBtu last week, reaching its highest level since 2022. Intraday volatility was remarkable, given the very long shadows. Following the roll-down in February, volatility has been lower, with support around $3.160/MMBtu.
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