By CountingPips.com

US Dollar continues to have bullish sentiment versus all Major Currencies

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 currency speculators slightly trimmed their overall US dollar bullish bets after pushing positions higher for two straight weeks.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $47.38 billion as of Tuesday December 2nd, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of -$0.61 billion from the $47.99 billion total long position that was registered on November 25th, 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 US dollar’s continued strong position has seen each of the other individually tracked currencies have a net bearish position versus the dollar for nine straight weeks (see data below). Meanwhile, the USD index closed the week above the 89.00 level for the first time since 2010.

Overall Speculative Net US Dollar Contracts

In terms of total net speculative contracts, overall US dollar contracts rose for a sixth straight week last week to a total of +428,558 contracts as of Tuesday December 2nd. This was a change by +9,733 contracts from the total of +418,825 contracts as of Tuesday November 25th. This 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: One Sided – All currencies have net bearish position versus the USD for 9th week

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

This latest COT data is through Tuesday December 2nd 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