The latest Commitment of Traders (CoT) report from ICE, released on Wednesday, shows that investment funds increased their net long positions—the difference between long and short positions—indicating that speculative traders have become more bullish on carbon prices.

According to market data available as of last Friday, net long positions increased by 0,9 million allowances from the previous week to around 44 million allowances, its highest level since the middle of August.

The rise in net long positions reflected increased activity on both sides of the market. Speculative traders expanded their long holdings by 3 million allowances to 74.6 million, while also adding 2.15 million allowances to their short positions, bringing the total to 30.6 million.

While investment funds’ positioning typically provides a snapshot of broader market sentiment, the latest CoT figures contrast with recent price movements. Despite the increase in speculative net long positions, the EUA Dec’26 contract ended Friday’s session with a weekly decline of 3%.

The divergence suggests that speculative investors maintained a broadly bullish outlook despite the price correction, potentially taking advantage of lower prices to increase their exposure rather than retreating from the market.