Commitment of Traders Weekly Data shows which way Large Traders and Hedge Funds were leaning last week in the Futures Market
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 decreased their total bullish bets of the US dollar last week against the other major foreign currencies.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators, registered an overall US dollar long position of $25 billion as of Tuesday April 9th. This was a decline from the total long position of $26.3 billion on April 2nd, 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 Positions in Futures:
The individual currency contracts quoted directly against the US dollar last week saw increases for the euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and the New Zealand dollar while the British pound sterling, Australian dollar, Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar all had a declining number of net contracts for the week.
Individual Currency Charts:
EuroFX: Weekly change of +14,843
EuroFX: Large trader positions for the euro rose last week following three straight weeks of decline. Euro contracts improved to a total net position of -50,858 contracts in the data reported for April 9th following the previous week’s total of -65,701 net contracts on April 2nd. This is a change of +14,843 contracts from the previous week.
British Pound Sterling: Weekly change of -4,949
GBP: British pound spec positions declined last week after an increase the previous week. British pound speculative positions fell last week to a total of -69,969 net contracts on April 9th following a total of -65,020 net contracts reported for April 2nd. This was a weekly change of -4,949 in large trader contracts.
Pound speculator positions have been in a negative bearish position for nine consecutive weeks since crossing over on February 5th.
Japanese Yen: Weekly change of +474
JPY: Japanese yen net speculative contracts rose last week for a second consecutive week. Japanese yen positions increased to a total of -77,697 net contracts on April 9th following a total of -78,171 net short contracts on April 2nd. This is a weekly change of +474 positions.
Swiss Franc: Weekly change of +2,001
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions improved last week for a second consecutive week although still remains in a bearish position. Net positions for the Swiss currency futures increased to a total of -10,014 contracts on April 9th following a total of -12,015 net contracts reported for April 2nd. This is a weekly change of +2,001 contracts.
Canadian Dollar: Weekly change of -6,589
CAD: Canadian dollar positions decreased last week for a second straight week and to a new low level in 2013. Canadian dollar positions decreased to a total of -71,133 contracts as of April 9th following a total of -64,544 net contracts that were reported for April 2nd.
This is a weekly change of -6,589 net contracts following a weekly change of -1,899 the previous week.
Australian Dollar: Weekly change of -6,092
AUD: The Australian dollar declined last week for a second consecutive week. Aussie speculative futures positions decreased to a total net amount of +77,879 contracts on April 9th after totaling +83,971 net contracts as of April 2nd. This is a weekly change of -6,092 in net positions following the previous week’s -1,544 change.
New Zealand Dollar: Weekly change of +6,763
NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions jump last week to rise for a third consecutive week to a new 2013 high level. NZD contracts rose to a total of +25,150 net long contracts as of April 9th following a total of +18,387 net long contracts on April 2nd. This constitutes a weekly change of +6,763 following the previous week’s change of +1,471 net contracts.
Mexican Peso: Weekly change of -213
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts dipped ever so slightly last week after rising for the previous two weeks. Peso positions decreased to a total of +142,542 net speculative positions as of April 9th following a total of +142,755 contracts that were reported for April 2nd. This is a weekly change in net large peso speculator positions of -213 contracts following the previous change of +14,593 contracts.
Additional Macro Financial Markets:
10 Year Treasuries: Weekly change of +10,087
10 Year Notes: 10-Year Treasury Note speculative contracts advanced higher last week to rise for a fourth consecutive week. 10-Year positions rose to a total of +120,779 net speculative positions as of April 9th following a total of +110,692 contracts that were reported for April 2nd. This is a weekly change in net large speculator positions of +10,087 contracts following the previous week’s change of +12,502 contracts.
Crude Oil Light Sweet: Weekly change of -25,452
Crude Oil: Crude Oil speculative contracts decreased last week after rising for the previous two weeks. Crude spec positions fell to a total of +223,398 net speculative positions as of April 9th following a total of +248,850 contracts that were reported for April 2nd. This is a weekly change in net large speculator positions of -25,452 contracts which is the largest weekly fall of 2013 so far.
Gold Futures CMX: Weekly change of -847
Gold: Gold speculative contracts fell just slightly last week to decrease for a third straight week. Gold futures positions declined to a total of +119,359 net speculative positions as of April 9th following a total of +120,206 contracts that were reported for April 2nd. This is a weekly change in net large speculator positions of -847 contracts following the previous week’s change of -12,240 contracts.
S&P 500 Index Futures: Weekly change of +2,299
S&P 500: S&P 500 speculative contracts edged higher last week for a second straight week. S&P 500 futures positions rose to a total of +6,831 net speculative positions as of April 9th following a total of +4,532 contracts that were reported for April 2nd. This is a weekly change in net large speculator positions of +2,299 contracts.
VIX Futures: Weekly change of -1,380
VIX: VIX speculative contracts decreased last week to fall for a second week. VIX futures positions declined to a total of -69,653 net speculative positions as of April 9th following a total of -68,273 contracts that were reported for April 2nd. This is a weekly change in net large speculator positions of -1,380 contracts.
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
