CFTC Gold Non-Commercial Net Positions

Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Gold Non-Commercial Net Positions weekly report reflects the difference between the total volume of long and short gold positions existing in the market and opened by non-commercial (speculative) traders. The report only includes US futures markets (Chicago and New York Exchanges). So the indicator is a net volume of long gold positions in the United States.

Non-commercial traders open positions NOT for hedging in the futures or options market. This group includes only speculative operations. The same trader can be defined as commercial for trades with some assets and non-commercial with others. This classification is reflected in CFTC reports.

CFTC publishes report on net positions and commitments of traders to help traders and analysts understand the market dynamics. These reports are compiled on the basis of data on positions provided by FCM brokers, clearing companies and currency exchanges. The CFTC analytical department only provides data, but does not provide explanation on why such ratio of positions has formed.

Gold is one of the most popular reserve commodity assets in global markets. Gold quotes often grow amid the fall in dollar quotes: traders tend to prefer gold when they are not sure in the stability of the dollar. Therefore, the growth in the net volume of speculative gold positions may indirectly hint at generally unfavorable conditions in the market. However, since the CFTC report covers a small amount of data (globally), it rarely has a strong impact on gold or dollar quotes.