The most recent Commitment of Traders (CoT) report published by the ICE platform revealed that investment funds have expanded their net long positions (long term-short term) to  11,8 million allowances from nearly 9 million allowances in the previous week. This means that investors continue to believe that carbon prices will increase.

Data shows that, as of last Friday, speculative traders have reduced their long-term investments by 0,3 million allowances reaching a total of 51,2 million allowances. At the same time, funds decreased their short positions by 3,2 million allowances to almost 39,3 million allowances, the lowest level since the week ending on 13  October 2023.

The net short positions have been gradually decreasing since early October 2024 with speculative investors switching from a net short (short – long) to a net long (long – short) for the week ending November 15, indicating a more optimistic market sentiment. 

Normally, the sentiment reflected in the reports published by ICE is confirmed by trading data. “Interestingly, despite this continuous accumulation of long positions, there has been no significant change in market prices,” noticed Belektron in its weekly newsletter. 

At the end of last Friday’s session, carbon prices closed with a 1,3% weekly loss with “falling gas prices and milder and windier forecast for Europe as the main reasons”, according to trader Energi Danmark.