Specs Buy Record Gold Futures As Short Squeeze Sends CTAs Soaring: What's Next For Gold

Not long after we reported that Goldman's commodity strategists are turning especially bullish on gold, telling clients they see  "significant upside risk to our $4,900/oz end-2026 gold forecast" as a result of a substantial jump in call buying, not to mention gold crossing above its 200DMA for the first time since October 2023, Goldman's futures desk also chimed in with trader Robert Quinn writing that over the past 3 weeks, speculators purchased a record amount of Gold futures in nominal terms per Commitment of Traders (COT) (full note available to pro subs).

Managed Money, Other, and Non-Reportable bought +$22.2bn from July 28th - August 18th, representing a 10+ year notional max. Long augmentation (+$13.6bn) and short covering (+$8.6bn) contributed to the sharp move higher. Resultant net length registered at 93% on a 2 year lookback.