Funds reduced their bullish exposure to silver again last week. Yet the futures market itself was expanding.
According to the latest CFTC Commitments of Traders report, covering positions as of October 13, Managed Money remained net long both metals, but reduced its exposure:
- Gold: 107,089 contracts, down 3,898 from the previous week.
- Silver: 5,619 contracts, down 1,909.
For silver, that represents a reduction of approximately 25% in net bullish positioning in just one week.
A closer look at the figures reveals how this happened. Money managers reduced their silver long positions by 655 contracts while adding 1,254 short contracts. They were not simply taking profits on existing bullish bets. Some funds were also increasing their exposure to falling prices.
Gold followed a similar pattern, with funds reducing long positions and adding shorts. However, the relative size of their positions differs considerably between the two metals.
Managed Money’s net long position in silver now represents approximately 5.2% of total open interest, compared with around 27% for gold.
Relative to the size of their respective futures markets, professional money managers therefore have substantially less net bullish exposure to silver than to gold.
Another figure, however, complicates the picture.
Silver open interest increased by 3,303 contracts, reaching 108,433. Gold open interest was almost unchanged, rising by just 236 contracts.
Open interest measures the total number of outstanding futures contracts. An increase means more contracts remain open, not necessarily that investors have become more bullish.
That distinction is particularly relevant here. While Managed Money was reducing its net long exposure, the overall silver futures market was expanding. Other market participants were also taking positions, and CFTC data show that the Other Reportables category increased its gross long holdings by 1,401 contracts.
This was not simply a broad withdrawal of traders from the futures market.
There is, however, an important timing limitation.
The report was published on October 16 but reflects positions held on Tuesday, October 13. It therefore does not capture Wednesday’s sharp silver selloff, when stronger U.S. inflation data contributed to a price decline toward $55.
This creates a substantial information gap between the reported positioning and the market conditions investors faced by Friday.
The latest figures confirm that speculative sentiment was deteriorating before the larger price decline. They cannot tell us how much additional liquidation of long positions or opening of new short positions occurred afterward.
Investors can follow changes across trader categories, open interest, and historical positioning through our Gold & Silver COT Positioning Tracker.
The futures market was expanding even as funds adopted an increasingly cautious stance. The next report will reveal how the positioning structure changed during the sharp selloff.
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