Oil Futures: Battle forming........from article today.........
"Large speculators, mostly commodity funds, have been betting prices will fall, while commercial accounts -- companies that deal with oil in their business and use the market to hedge losses -- are largely betting on a rebound.
Last week, large speculators added more than three times as many short positions (bets that prices will fall) than long positions (bets that prices will rise), and commercials added nearly twice as many long positions as shorts, according to Nymex open interest data.
"Funds seem to be selling as aggressively as they once had bought. They have accumulated a large line of shorts, and it continues to grow," wrote Peter Beutel of Cameron Hanover in a research note. "Commercial accounts were buying, but they also sold new shorts. There was no long liquidation and that could lead to huge losses for longs who have not yet taken losses. They seem to have doubled up their long positions, which could be deadly."
