By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Monday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that futures speculators trimmed their short bets of the US dollar against the other major currencies. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $8.85 billion against other major currencies as of December 28th. This is down from the total short position of $8.97 billion on December 21st, according to the CFTC data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
EuroFx: Currency speculators added to their shorts of the euro against the U.S. dollar for a second straight week as of December 28th. Euro positions fell to 26,479 short contracts from a total of 14,093 short positions registered on December 21st. This is the largest short position in the euro since July 2010.
The COT report is published every Friday (or Monday due to holidays) 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.
GBP: Speculators added to their British pound sterling short positions to a total of 13,121 short contracts on December 28th following the previous week’s short positions of 7,432 contracts. Pound sterling contracts have now been short for five straight weeks dating back to November 30th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long contracts more than doubled as of December 28th with 29,641 long contracts from 12,529 net long contracts reported on December 21st.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions rose higher for a fourth straight week to a total of 14,002 long contracts as of December 28th after totaling a net of 12,527 long contracts on December 21st.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions increased as of December 28th. CAD long positions registered 34,787 contracts after totaling 24,948 net longs on December 21st.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions advanced higher for a fourth consecutive week. AUD contracts increased to a net amount of 64,316 long contracts as of December 28th from 60,550 long contracts on December 21st.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions reversed five straight weeks of decline to rise to 8,115 long positions as of December 28th. NZD large speculator long positions had fallen to a total of 7,366 long contracts on December 21st.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts edged slightly higher as of December 28th to 82,246 net long positions from 78,002 longs the week prior. The latest data is a third straight week of increase for the Mexican peso speculative positions.
COT Data Summary as of December 28th, 2010
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EuroFx: -26,479
British pound sterling: -13,121
Japanese yen: +29,641
Swiss franc: +14,002
Canadian dollar: +34,787
Australian dollar: +64,316
New Zealand dollar: +8,115
Mexican peso: +82,246
Go to the Commitment of Traders CME raw futures data
Further COT Resources from around the web:
