By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, showed that futures speculators reversed the past three weeks trend and increased 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 $24.53 billion against other major currencies as of November 2nd, up from a total short position of $23.1 billion on October 26th, according to data published by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc. Speculators previously had raised their bets for the dollar three straight weeks through October 26th.
On an individual currency basis, speculators added to their long positions for the British pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, Mexican peso and the New Zealand dollar while cutting long positions in the euro, Swiss franc and the Australian dollar compared to the week before.
EuroFx: Currency specs were net long the euro against the U.S. dollar by 38,610 contracts as of November 2nd. This is a decrease of nearly 2,000 contracts following net long positions of 40,505 contracts on October 26th.
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 rose higher to a net of 15,182 contracts after being long on October 26th by 5,089 positions. The latest data reverses three straight weeks of declines in the GBP long positions.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long contracts rose slightly to 46,455 long contracts as of November 2nd from 43,129 net long contracts reported on October 26th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions advanced higher after two declining weeks to a net total of 23,365 contracts after totaling 19,875 net longs on October 26th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions were essentially unchanged at 12,465 long contracts as of November 2nd after totaling a net of 12,519 long contracts on October 26th.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions decreased lower for the fifth straight week after reaching their highest level since April on September 28th. AUD futures contracts declined to a net amount of 51,180 long contracts as of November 2nd from 55,115 long contracts on October 26th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions jumped higher to their highest level all year at a total of 19,148 long contracts after a total of 15,871 long contracts the week before.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts edged higher as of November 2nd to 82,272 net long positions from 80,143 longs the week prior. The latest data marks reverses three straight weeks of small declines for the Mexican peso speculative positions.
COT Data Summary as of November 2nd, 2010
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
Euro: +38,610 contracts from +40,505 contracts
British pound sterling: +15,182 contracts from +5,089 contracts
Australian dollar: +51,180 contracts from +55,115 contracts
Canadian dollar: +23,365 contracts from +19,875 contracts
Japanese yen: +46,455 contracts from +43,129 contracts
Mexican peso: +82,272 contracts from +80,143 contracts
New Zealand dollar: +19,148 contracts from +15,871 contracts
Swiss franc: +12,465 contracts from +12,519 contracts
Go to the Commitment of Traders CME raw futures data
Further COT Resources from around the web:
