By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Monday 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 $21.85 billion against other major currencies as of November 9th, down from a total short position of $24.53 billion on November 2nd, 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 have raised their bets for the dollar three out of the last four weeks.
*The COT report is usually released on Fridays but was delayed until Monday due to a bank holiday.
On an individual currency basis, speculators added to their long positions for the British pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Mexican peso, Swiss franc and the New Zealand dollar while cutting long positions in the euro, Japanese yen and the Australian dollar compared to the week before.
EuroFx: Currency specs were net long the euro against the U.S. dollar by 23,283 contracts as of November 9th. This is a decrease of approximately 15,000 contracts following net long positions of 38,610 contracts on November 2nd and the third straight week of declining euro long positions.
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 21,266 contracts after being long on November 2nd by 15,182 positions. The latest data is a second straight week of increasing pound positions following three weeks of declines in the GBP long positions.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long contracts declined to 36,654 contracts as of November 9th from 46,455 net long contracts reported on November 2nd.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions advanced higher for a second straight week to a net total of 37,338 contracts after totaling 23,365 net longs on November 2nd.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions were essentially unchanged for third straight week at 12,615 long contracts as of November 9th after totaling a net of 12,465 long contracts on November 2nd.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions decreased lower for the sixth straight week after reaching their highest level since April on September 28th. AUD futures contracts declined to a net amount of 47,616 long contracts as of November 9th from 51,180 long contracts on November 2nd.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions jumped higher to their highest level all year at a total of 22,250 long contracts after a total of 19,148 long contracts the week before.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts increased as of November 9th to 88,746 net long positions from 82,272 longs the week prior. The latest data marks two straight weeks of increases for the Mexican peso speculative positions.
COT Data Summary as of November 9th, 2010
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
Euro: + 23,283 contracts from +38,610 contracts
British pound sterling: + 21,266 contracts from +15,182 contracts
Australian dollar: + 47,616 contracts from +51,180 contracts
Canadian dollar: + 37,338 contracts from +23,365 contracts
Japanese yen: + 36,654 contracts from +46,455 contracts
Mexican peso: + 88,746 contracts from +82,272 contracts
New Zealand dollar: + 22,250 contracts from +19,148 contracts
Swiss franc: + 12,615 contracts from +12,465 contracts
Go to the Commitment of Traders CME raw futures data
Further COT Resources from around the web:
