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 increased their bets sharply in favor of the US dollar once again last week. The bets for American currency have now risen for four straight weeks and are at the highest overall long position since July 17th 2012, according to Reuters.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators, registered an overall US dollar long position of $23.57 billion as of Tuesday March 5th. This was a change from a total long position of $14.39 billion that was registered on Tuesday February 26th, according to the CFTC’s COT data and trader position calculations by Reuters, which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, 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 the euro, British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso all have a declining number of contracts compared to the previous week.
Individual Currency Charts:
EuroFX:
EuroFX: Large trader and speculator sentiment for the euro declined last week to drop for a fourth consecutive week. Euro contracts fell to a total net position of -26,116 contracts in the data reported for March 5th following the previous week’s total of -9,394 net contracts on February 26th.
Euro spec positions are now at their lowest level so far in 2013 and the lowest since December 11th 2012 when positions stood at -31,623 contracts.
Great Britain Pound:
GBP: British pound sterling spec positions decreased for a seventh consecutive week last week and dropped to their lowest level since November 2011. British pound speculative positions declined to a total of -43,849 net contracts on March 5th following a total of -36,130 net contracts that were reported on February 26th.
Pound speculator positions have now been in a negative bearish position for four straight weeks and are at the lowest level since November 29th 2011 when positions equaled -46,660 contracts.
Japanese Yen:
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts declined last week to the lowest level in about two months. Japanese yen positions decreased to a total of -73,351 net contracts reported on March 5th following a total of -65,344 net short contracts on February 26th.
Yen positions are at their lowest point since January 8th when short positions equaled +74,096 contracts.
Swiss Franc:
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions decreased last week for a third consecutive week and remain at the lowest level since November 2012. Net positions for the Swiss currency futures dropped to a total of -11,450 contracts on March 5th following a total of -8,191 net contracts reported for February 26th.
CHF positions are on the short side for a third straight week and are at the lowest level since November 20, 2012 when positions totaled -12,488 contracts.
Canadian Dollar:
CAD: Canadian dollar positions decreased sharply lower once again last week to decline for a seventh consecutive week and to the lowest level in over a year. Canadian dollar positions fell to a total of -46,663 contracts as of March 5th following a total of -21,433 net contracts that were reported for February 26th.
Australian Dollar:
AUD: The Australian dollar decreased last week to fall for a sixth consecutive week. Aussie speculative futures positions declined to a total net amount of +7,149 contracts on March 5th after totaling +25,695 contracts as of February 26th.
Australian dollar contracts are now at their lowest level since June 26, 2012 when positions equaled just -2,159 contracts.
New Zealand Dollar:
NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions decreased last week for a second week after reaching their highest level in over a year on February 19th. NZD contracts fell to a total of +19,044 net long contracts as of March 5th following a total of +20,297 net long contracts on February 26th.
The New Zealand dollar positions have fallen under the +20,000 contracts threshold for the first time in the last eight weeks.
Mexican Peso:
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts decreased last week to decline for a seventh straight week. Peso positions fell to a total of +93,521 net speculative positions as of March 5th following a total of +104,804 contracts that were reported for February 26th.
Peso speculative positions have fallen under the +100,000 threshold for the first time since November 27th 2012.
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.)
Article by CountingPips.com – Forex News & Market Analysis
