By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, showed that futures speculators decreased their bets in favor of the major currencies against the US dollar. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $25.8 billion against the other major currencies, down from a total short position of $29 billion on October 12th, according to data published by Reuters.
Speculators long positions declined against the British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and Mexican peso while slightly adding to long positions in the euro.
EuroFx: Currency specs were net long the euro against the U.S. dollar by 46,748 contracts as of October 19th. This is an increase of over 5,000 contracts following net long positions of 41,511 contracts on October 12th.
The COT report is published every Friday by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity. Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, where as a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar. Open interest is the number of open contracts that have not been closed by a transaction or by delivery.
GBP: The British pound sterling positions fell slightly to a net of 5,796 contracts after being long on October 12th by 8,066 positions. The latest data marks the second straight week the long positions have edged lower.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long contracts decreased slightly for second straight week to 45,856 long contracts as of October 19th from 48,285 net long contracts reported on October 12th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions decreased lower following two straight weeks of increases to a net total of 30,740 contracts after totaling 43,786 net longs on October 12th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions declined to 11,235 long contracts as of October 19th after totaling a net of 19,947 long contracts on October 12th. This marks three straight weeks of decreases following a rise to their highest level in almost a year October 5th.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions decreased lower for third straight week after reaching their highest level since April on September 28th. AUD futures contracts declined to a net amount of 59,181 long contracts as of October 19th from 67,691 long contracts on October 12th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions declined lower to a total of 15,331 long contracts after a total of 16,573 long contracts the week before.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts edged lower as of October 19th to 82,125 net long positions from 86,218 longs the week prior. The latest data interrupts a streak of five consecutive weekly increases.
COT Data Summary as of October 19th, 2010
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
Euro: +46,748 contracts from +41,511 contracts on October 5th
British pound sterling: +5,796 contracts from +8,066 contracts
Australian dollar: +59,181 contracts from +67,691 contracts
Canadian dollar: +30,740 contracts from +43,786 contracts
Japanese yen: +45,856 contracts from +48,285 contracts
Mexican peso: +82,125 contracts from +86,218 contracts
New Zealand dollar: +15,331 contracts from +16,573 contracts
Swiss franc: +11,235 contracts from +19,947 contracts
Go to the Commitment of Traders CME raw futures data
Further COT Resources from around the web:
