Hedge funds flock to WTI crude ahead of Texas Cold Snap



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Portfolio managers further increased their long positions on the most traded oil contracts, with bullish bets almost entirely focused on the US benchmark WTI Crude, wrote Reuters columnist John Kemp in an analysis of the latest stock market data. .

In the week leading up to Feb. 9, hedge funds and other fund managers bought the equivalent of 33 million barrels in the six most traded oil futures and options. The purchase was mostly focused on WTI crude, where the long position rose by the equivalent of 30 million barrels in the week of February 9, suggesting that hedge funds expected the price of oil to rise. US rises as an explosion in the Arctic is expected to extend this far. like Texas, says Kemp.

Long positions in oil contracts have now risen for 14 straight weeks, which is the longest and largest rise in bull oil bets since early 2019, according to Kemp.

Expectations of higher WTI crude prices came true this week, and WTI crude prices rebounded to over $ 60 a barrel for the first time in more than 13 months on Monday. The last time WTI Crude traded above $ 60 was in early January 2020, before the pandemic began to worry traders and fund managers.

In the week leading up to Feb. 9, extreme positions above or near year-long highs were seen for several commodities, from crude oil to commodities to copper and corn, said Monday. Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, commenting on the commitments. of the Traders report.

The combined net long position in Brent and WTI – the difference between bullish and bearish bets – hit a 28-month high at 727,500 lots, according to the report.

This is still 33% below the record 1.1 million lots of March 2018, according to Hansen of Saxo Bank.

“While short-term momentum indicators started calling for consolidation last week, long-short ratios remain low, indicating that speculative duration still has room to grow before trade begins to weaken. seem crowded, ”he added.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for OilUSD

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