Gold at 136.6k, Silver 50k; Crude Oil Falls 12%, Brent Up 10% Amid Dollar $20.3B Shorts and Natural Gas Net Longs Rise 4%
Managed money positions in commodities showed notable shifts during the weeks ending June 20 and June 27, 2025, reflecting market reactions to geopolitical and economic developments. In metals, gold long positions increased by 5.2% to 136,600 contracts, and silver positions rose by 2.5% to 50,000 contracts, while platinum and copper saw declines of 10.4% and 11.4% to 16,800 and 23,600 contracts respectively. In grains, corn short positions expanded by 20,800 contracts to a total of 184,800 shorts, soybean longs increased by 33,500 to 59,200 contracts, and CBT wheat shorts grew by 12,700 to 81,400 contracts. On the forex front, speculative dollar selling intensified amid a 1% drop in the Dollar Index to levels not seen since March 2022, with gross short positions against eight IMM futures contracts rising 8% to $20.3 billion, marking a highly bearish stance on the U.S. dollar. Commodity markets experienced a broad reversal led by energy, triggered by the Israel–Iran ceasefire, which caused crude oil prices to tumble 12% in the week ending June 27. This led traders to reduce WTI and Brent net long positions by 95,000 contracts. Despite this, ICE Brent net long positions fell 29% to 81 million barrels, with long positions down 13% and shorts up 45%, while Brent futures prices increased 10% from $69.25 to $75.85. Brent-WTI net long positions decreased by 21% to 92 million barrels, although open interest remained at its highest level since early 2021. U.S. natural gas net long positions rose by 3 billion cubic feet (4%) to 23 billion cubic feet for the week ending June 20, with prices climbing 9% from $3.55 to $3.86 per million British thermal units. However, these net long positions remain below the 2022-24 and 2017-21 averages by 61% and 239%, respectively.
Written with ChatGPT (GPT-4).
Art Berman
