By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that futures speculators increased their short positions 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 $12.4 billion against other major currencies as of January 4th. This is a rise from the total short position of $8.85 billion on December 28th, 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 slightly trimmed their short positions of the euro against the U.S. dollar. Euro positions were short by 24,201 contracts from a total of 26,479 short positions registered on December 28th. The December 28th level was the largest short position in the euro since July 2010.
The COT report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) 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 for second straight week to a total of 14,133 short contracts on January 4th. The previous week had short positions of 13,121 contracts. Pound sterling contracts have now been short for six straight weeks dating back to November 30th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long contracts increased for a second straight week as of January 4th with 39,065 long contracts from 29,641 net long contracts reported on December 28th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions dipped slightly after four straight weeks of rising long positions. Swiss franc positions fell to a total of 13,032 long contracts as of January 4th after totaling a net of 14,002 long contracts on December 28th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions increased for second consecutive week as of January 4th. CAD long positions registered 38,340 contracts after totaling 34,787 net longs on December 28th. This is the highest level for Canadian dollar contracts since November 16th.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions dipped after a streak of gains for four consecutive weeks. AUD contracts decreased to a net amount of 62,513 long contracts as of January 4th from 64,316 long contracts on December 28th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions rose for a second straight week to a total of 10,731 long positions as of January 4th. NZD large speculator long positions had risen to a total of 8,115 long contracts on December 28th.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts edged lower as of January 4th to 74,310 net long positions from 82,246 longs the week prior. The latest data breaks up a string of three straight weeks of increases for the Mexican peso speculative positions.
COT Data Summary as of January 4th, 2010
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EuroFx: -24,201
British pound sterling: -14,133
Japanese yen: +39,065
Swiss franc: +13,032
Canadian dollar: +38,340
Australian dollar: +62,513
New Zealand dollar: +10,731
Mexican peso: +74,310
Go to the Commitment of Traders CME raw futures data
Further COT Resources from around the web:
