By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market tried to pull on its bearish reins Friday, but could only manage to see old-crop contracts end slightly lower. Lately the market has been under heavy technical-type selling as trend-following funds have been in liquidation mode. Thursday saw cotton trading sour all the more as many outside financial and commodity markets capsized into steep losses.

For the week, spot May cotton settled down 2.88 cents, down 4.15 cents for the month, but was up 5.98 cents on the year. Open interest, the total of all outstanding longs and shorts, has nearly returned to its pre-Christmas level of 230,110 contracts. At its 2021 peak, open interest stood at 259,947 contracts.

After the close today, CFTC will update its market standing for speculators and hedgers. One key group to watch is the managed-money category. At last count, that group stood at some 50,000 contracts net long after peaking at near 80,000 contracts sooner.

Next week ushers in spring and soon the planting of the 2021 crop will begin. The first look into the size of the crop comes on March 31, when USDA releases its new crop planting intentions data. Currently, the government tabulators suggest 12.00 million acres will be seeded to cotton for 2021. However, with high flat prices for corn, plus a strong corn basis across the Delta and Southeast, some cotton growers may opt out for corn.

Friday, May cotton closed at 84.68 cents, down .77 cent; July settled at 85.72 cents, off .70 cent; and December ended at 82.51 cents, down .08 cent. Friday’s estimated volume was 31,137 contracts.