Gold Bulls Retreat as Short Holdings Rise to Highest Ever

Speculators pared bets on rising gold prices for a seventh consecutive week, the longest retreat since 2010, as futures erased this year’s gains.

The net-long position in New York futures and options contracted as hedge funds accumulated the most bets on further declines since the U.S. government began collecting data in 2006. The most-traded Comex gold option on Oct. 3 was for the right to sell December futures at $1,100 an ounce, or almost 8 percent below where prices ended the day.