By CountingPips.com

The latest data for the weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) report, released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, showed that large traders and speculators boosted their bullish bets in favor of the US dollar last week to the highest dollar amount since June 2013.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $30.4 billion as of Tuesday August 19th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of +$3.4 billion from the $27.0 billion total long position that was registered on August 12th, according to the Reuters calculation that totals the US dollar contracts against the combined contracts of the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

The aggregate US dollar bullish position is now at the highest level since June 4th 2013 when speculators were long by $39.12 billion and the US dollar index was trading at approximately at 82.77.

Overall Speculative Net Contracts

In terms of total speculative contracts, overall dollar contracts rose last week to +160,007 contracts as of Tuesday August 19th. This was a change by +15,265 contracts from the total of +144,742 contracts as of Tuesday August 12th. The total US dollar contracts calculation takes into account more currencies than the Reuters dollar amount total and is derived by adding the sum of each individual currencies net position versus the dollar. Currency contracts used in the calculation are the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Mexican peso.

Major Currency Weekly Levels & Changes:

Overall changes on the week for the major currencies showed that large speculators raised their bets last week in favor of the Swiss franc, Australian dollar and the Mexican peso while decreasing weekly bets for the euro, British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and the New Zealand dollar.

Notable changes on the week for the Major Currencies:

• Euro positions dropped last week for the fifth time out of the last six weeks and to the lowest level since July 31 2012 when positions equaled -138,994 contracts

• British pound sterling positions fell after rising the previous week. The pound speculative contracts have now fallen for six out of the last seven weeks

• Japanese yen bets dropped last week (-6,174) after an advance the previous week. Yen bets have declined three out of the last four weeks

• Swiss franc bets edged slightly higher for a second consecutive week. Franc positions have been on the bearish side for nine straight weeks

• Canadian dollar positions declined for a third straight week and fell back to the lowest position since July 1st

• Australian dollar net positions rose last week after falling for two weeks. Aussie long positions bounced back over the +30,000 contracts threshold as the exchange rate tested 0.9300 last week

• New Zealand dollar net positions edged slightly lower last week for a third straight week and to the lowest level since July 1st

• Mexican peso positions rebounded modestly last week after falling sharply for two straight weeks by over -30,000 contracts. Positions are now back in slightly bullish territory (+12,448 contracts) after falling into a bearish position the week before

This latest COT data is through Tuesday August 19th and shows a quick view of how large speculators and for-profit traders (non-commercials) were positioned in the futures markets. All currency positions are in direct relation to the US dollar where, for example, a bet for the euro is a bet that the euro will rise versus the dollar while a bet against the euro will be a bet that the dollar will gain versus the euro.

Please see the individual currency charts and their respective data points below.

Weekly Charts: Large Speculators Weekly Positions vs Currency Spot Price

EuroFX:

Last Six Weeks data for EuroFX futures

British Pound Sterling:

Last Six Weeks data for Pound Sterling futures

Japanese Yen:

Last Six Weeks data for Yen Futures

Swiss Franc:

Last Six Weeks data for Franc futures

Canadian Dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for Canadian dollar futures

Australian Dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for Australian dollar futures

New Zealand Dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for New Zealand dollar futures

Mexican Peso:

Last Six Weeks data for Mexican Peso futures

*COT Report: The weekly commitment of traders report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators).

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.

All information contained in this article cannot be guaranteed to be accurate and is used at your own risk. All information and opinions on this website are for general informational purposes only and do not in any way constitute investment advice.

Article by CountingPips.com – Forex Apps & News