A Record Number of Investors Are Piling Into Oil
- Hedge-fund shorts and longs climb to combined 497,280: CFTC
- U.S. benchmark crude declined during week in volatile trading
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Money managers may not agree where oil prices are headed, but they are increasingly eager to place their bets.
Total wagers on the price of crude climbed to the highest since the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission began tracking the data in 2006. Speculators’ combined short and long positions in West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, rose to 497,280 futures and options contracts in the week ended Feb. 2.