- Gold and silver remain well supported in their technical uptrends, but both precious metals have some slowing momentum as hedge fund positioning becomes more nuanced in the marketplace.
Some analysts said that silver continues to benefit as a monetary metal with the Federal Reserve looking to end its current hiking cycle with one last rate hike next month; at the same time, industrial demand is expected to remain robust through the year due to the global green energy transition, which is driving demand for solar power.
The CFTC's disaggregated Commitments of Traders report for the week ending April 11 showed money managers increased their speculative gross long positions in Comex silver futures by 4,164 contracts to 42,763. At the same time, short positions rose by 4,819 contracts to 24,973 contracts. The disaggregated report showed that money-managed speculative gross long positions in Comex gold futures fell by 7,333 contracts to 135,015. At the same time, short positions fell by 1,808 contracts to 30,409.
"We caution that CTA positioning appears to have effectively reached 'max long,' with nearly every single trend signal on our radar already pointing to the upside. At the same time, while discretionary traders have covered their shorts, this cohort has yet to buy into the rally. Interestingly, however, other reportables still added to their length, but this was more than offset by money manager outflows.