By CountingPips.com
The latest weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures traders slightly added to their bullish bets in favor of the US dollar for a sixth consecutive week last week. Long positions for the American currency continued to be at their best overall standing since July 17th 2012, according to Reuters research and calculations.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators, registered an overall US dollar long position of $25.753 billion as of Tuesday March 19th. This was a rise from a total long position of $25.46 billion on March 12th, according to position calculations by Reuters (US dollar positions against the total positions of eurofx, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc).
Individual Currencies Large Speculators Futures Positions:
The individual currency contracts quoted directly against the US dollar last week saw increases for the Japanese yen, Australian dollar and the Swiss franc while the euro, British pound sterling, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso all had a declining number of net contracts for the week.
Individual Currency Charts:
EuroFX:
EuroFX: Large trader positions for the euro decreased last week after improving slightly the previous week. Euro contracts declined to a total net position of -44,884 contracts in the data reported for March 19th following the previous week’s total of -24,787 net contracts on March 12th. This is a change of -20,097 contracts from the previous week.
Euro spec positions are now at their lowest level so far in 2013 and the lowest standing since November 27 2012 when positions stood at -66,693 contracts. EuroFx speculative contracts have now been in bearish territory for four weeks in a row.
March 12th 2013 Cot Report Data
Total Open Interest: 195073
Non-Commerical Large Traders Net Positions: -44,884
Commercial Traders Net Positions: +58162
Small Traders Net Positions: -13278
Great Britain Pound:
GBP: British pound sterling spec positions continued to decline last week for a ninth consecutive week and to the lowest standing since October 2011. British pound speculative positions decreased last week to a total of -61,480 net contracts on March 19th following a total of -49,800 net contracts reported for March 12th. This was a weekly change of -11,680 in large trader contracts.
Pound speculator positions have now been in a bearish position for six straight weeks since crossing over on February 5th and are at the lowest level since October 11th 2011 when positions equaled -61,972 contracts.
March 12th 2013 Cot Report Data
Total Open Interest: 212517
Non-Commerical Large Traders Net Positions: -61,480
Commercial Traders Net Positions: +93602
Small Traders Net Positions: -32122
Japanese Yen:
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts rebounded last week after a sharp fall the previous week and declining to the lowest level since December. Japanese yen positions improved to a total of -79,993 net contracts on March 19th following a total of -93,763 net short contracts on March 12th. This is a weekly change of +13,770 positions.
Yen positions, on March 12th, were at their lowest point since December 11th 2012 when short positions equaled -94,401 contracts.
March 12th 2013 Cot Report Data
Total Open Interest: 216674
Non-Commerical Large Traders Net Positions: -79993
Commercial Traders Net Positions: +118962
Small Traders Net Positions: -38969
Swiss Franc:
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions rebounded slightly last week after falling for four consecutive weeks. Net positions for the Swiss currency futures rose to a total of -10,996 contracts on March 19th following a total of -13,488 net contracts reported for March 12th. This is a weekly change of +2,492 contracts.
Swiss franc net positions had been on the short side for four straight weeks and dropped to the lowest level since August 21st 2012 when positions totaled -15,662 contracts before last week’s turnaround.
March 12th 2013 Cot Report Data
Total Open Interest: 50,580
Non-Commerical Large Traders Net Positions: -10,996
Commercial Traders Net Positions: +23,194
Small Traders Net Positions: -12,198
Canadian Dollar:
CAD: Canadian dollar positions continued lower last week to drop for a ninth consecutive week. Canadian dollar positions decreased to a total of -65,331 contracts as of March 19th following a total of -53,397 net contracts that were reported for March 12th.
This is a weekly change of -11,934 net contracts following a weekly change of -6,734 the previous week.
March 12th 2013 Cot Report Data
Total Open Interest: 308,970
Non-Commerical Large Traders Net Positions: -65,331
Commercial Traders Net Positions: +76,642
Small Traders Net Positions: -11,311
Australian Dollar:
AUD: The Australian dollar jumped sharply last week to rise for a second consecutive week. Aussie speculative futures positions increased to a total net amount of +54,055 contracts on March 19th after totaling +23,266 net contracts as of March 12th. This is a weekly change of +30,789 in net positions following the previous week’s +16,117 change.
Australian dollar contracts, on March 5th, were at their lowest level since June 26, 2012 when positions equaled just -2,159 contracts.
March 12th 2013 Cot Report Data
Total Open Interest: 158,807
Non-Commerical Large Traders Net Positions: +54,055
Commercial Traders Net Positions: -64,010
Small Traders Net Positions: +9,955
New Zealand Dollar:
NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions decreased sharply last week after a small increase the previous week. NZD contracts dropped to a total of +12,477 net long contracts as of March 19th following a total of +19,350 net long contracts on March 12th. This constitutes a weekly change of -6,873 net contracts.
The New Zealand dollar positions had stayed above the +19,000 contracts threshold for ten consecutive weeks before last week’s decline.
March 12th 2013 Cot Report Data
Total Open Interest: 28,933
Non-Commerical Large Traders Net Positions: +12,477
Commercial Traders Net Positions: -13,120
Small Traders Net Positions: +643
Mexican Peso:
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts fell last week after advancing the previous week. Peso positions decreased to a total of +109,376 net speculative positions as of March 19th following a total of +113,770 contracts that were reported for March 12th. This is a weekly change in net large peso speculator positions of -4394 contracts.
Peso speculative positions have been over the +100,000 threshold for a second straight week after falling under this level on March 5th for the first time since November 27th 2012.
March 12th 2013 Cot Report Data
Total Open Interest: 156,281
Non-Commerical Large Traders Net Positions: +109,376
Commercial Traders Net Positions: -118,821
Small Traders Net Positions: +9,445
The Commitment of Traders report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions data that was reported as of the previous Tuesday (3 days behind).
Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.
(The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.)
See more information and explanation on the weekly COT report from the CFTC website.
Article by CountingPips.com – Forex News & Market Analysis
