Commitment of Trader's Report - Fund Liquidation

It has been a difficult year for the hedge funds in the energy markets.  The funds accumulated record large long positions in the natural gas and crude oil market as both topped for the year.

In the natural gas market, funds were long 488,901 contracts last February.  As the market fell from the February high, funds went into liquation mode rapidly selling off positions.

The funds have attempted add to  long positions over the past month but no trend is evident.  Trade instead has been very choppy and volatile falling to a new low for the year last week.

And as the market fell lower, the funds again had to sell into weakness.  Friday's COT report showed the funds long 151,752 contracts (futures only), down 16,432 from the previous week.