TRADER'S COMMITMENTS

May 25, 2010. Source Barrons

About

This report, from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is updated weekly and released on Friday afternoon. The CFTC requires any person or firm trading a certain number of contracts to report that trading. The number of contracts that triggers the reporting requirement varies by commodity.

A commercial hedger is a large trader who also deals in the commodity on a cash basis.
A large speculator is a non-commercial trader who has no dealings in the underlying commodity.

The number of contracts traded by small traders is derived by subtracting the positions of larger traders and commercial hedgers from the total of all positions.

Number of Contracts and Changes from Previous Week
Contracts & Category	Long	Change	Short	Change
GOLD
Large Speculator	271,184	-10,801	43,493	-6,822
Commercial Hedger	167,088	-3,084	435,467	-14,449
Small Trader	66,316	-4,677	25,628	2,709
SILVER (Comex)
Large Speculator	42,146	-9,518	7,314	-1,560
Commercial Hedger	31,781	1,546	83,230	-6,223
Small Trader	24,769	-1,670	8,152	-1,859

Source: Barron's May 31, 2010 report as of May 25, 2010

Reference Article: The Big Squeeze January 28, 2003