The latest Commitment of Traders (CoT) report from ICE, released on Wednesday morning, shows that investment funds increased their net long positions—the difference between long and short positions—from the ten-week low reached in the previous reporting period.

According to market data available as of last Friday, net long positions increased by 2.27 million allowances compared with the previous week, representing a 5.4% rise and bringing the overall net long position to 44.36 million allowances.

The increase in the net long position was driven by movements on both sides of the market, as speculative traders added 1.7 million allowances to their long positions, bringing the total to 65 million allowances, while reducing their short positions by 0.5 million allowances to 20.7 million allowances.

The weekly increase in net long holdings points to a somewhat more bullish stance among speculative traders on EUA prices in the near term. However, positioning remains significantly below the peak reached in mid-January, when net long positions stood at around 126 million allowances. At the current level of 44.36 million allowances—roughly one-third of that peak—investor sentiment remains considerably less bullish than at the start of the year.

Moreover, despite the latest weekly increase, net long holdings have fluctuated around the 45 million allowance mark over the past month, suggesting that speculative positioning has yet to establish a clear directional trend. Carbon Pulse reinforced this view, noting that “the weekly Commitment of Traders report failed to generate much direction.”