By CountingPips.com 

US Dollar net speculator positions rose last week to +$9.10 billion

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 increased their bets in favor of the US dollar for the first time in six weeks last week.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling +$9.10 billion as of Tuesday September 6th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of +$3.81 billion from the +$5.29 billion total long position that was registered on August 30th, according to the Reuters calculation (totals of 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 speculative gain last week brings the aggregate position off its lowest level since July 5th when positions totaled +$4.18 billion contracts and marked the largest one week rise in approximately two months.

Weekly Speculator Contract Changes:

Last week’s data showed the major currencies that improved the most against the US dollar were the New Zealand dollar (+4,235 weekly change in contracts) and the British pound sterling (+2,516 contracts).

The currencies on the downside of speculative bets last week versus the dollar were the Mexican peso (-25,165 weekly change in contracts), euro (-10,705 contracts), Japanese yen (-9,172 contracts), Swiss franc (-6,757 contracts), Australian dollar (-3,607 contracts) and the Canadian dollar (-1,495 contracts).

Notable changes:

• British pound speculative positions rose last week for the second week after falling for the previous eight weeks in a row

• Japanese yen speculative positions fell after having gained for the previous five straight weeks

• Euro positions declined for the second straight week and to the most bearish level in a month

• Australian dollar positions decreased for a second week but still remains in a solid bullish speculative standing vs the dollar with net positions totaling +38,959 contracts

• New Zealand dollar positions gained for a second week last week and increased its small overall net long position to +6,128 contracts.

• Mexican peso positions dropped sharply last week and fell to its most bearish since June 28th when net positions totaled -65,327 contracts

This latest COT data is through Tuesday September 6th and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) 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 below. (Click on Charts to Enlarge)

Weekly Charts: Large Trader Weekly Positions vs Price

EuroFX:

British Pound Sterling:

Japanese Yen:

Swiss Franc:

Canadian Dollar:

Australian Dollar:

New Zealand Dollar:

Mexican Peso:

*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). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

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 charts overlay the forex 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