By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that futures speculators added to their short positions of the US dollar against the other major currencies while turning to long positions for the euro and the British pound sterling. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $15.06 billion against other major currencies as of January 11th. This is a rise from the total short position of $7.38 billion on January 11th, 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 had a net long position in the euro against the U.S. dollar for the first time since November 23rd with a total of 4,109 long positions on January 18th. This is a sharp turnaround for euro positions that were short by 45,182 contracts on January 11th and coincided with last week’s rise in the spot forex market for the euro.
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 had net long British pound sterling positions on January 18th for the first time since November 30th. Pound sterling contracts rose to a total of 5,794 long positions after totaling 5,090 short positions as of January 11th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long contracts decreased for second straight week as of January 18th to a total of 20,529 long contracts. Yen positions had totaled 24,736 net long contracts reported on January 11th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions edged lower for a second straight week to a total of 6,992 long contracts as of January 18th after totaling a net of 10,818 long contracts on January 11th. This marks the lowest level in Swiss franc long positions since July 27th, 2010.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions edged lower after three consecutive weeks of rises. CAD long positions registered 44,055 contracts after totaling 47,757 net longs on January 11th. Last week marked the highest level for Canadian dollar contracts since May 11th 2010.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions were virtually unchanged from the previous week. AUD contracts totaled a net amount of 53,508 long contracts as of January 18th from 53,497 long contracts on January 11th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions edged higher to a total of 11,247 long positions as of January 18th. NZD large speculator long positions had dipped the previous week to a total of 9,620 long contracts on January 11th.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts rose higher as of January 18th to 90,202 net long positions after totaling 83,572 longs the week prior on January 11th.
COT Data Summary as of January 18th, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
Euro: +4,109
British pound sterling: +5,794
Japanese yen: +20,529
Swiss franc: +6,992
Canadian dollar: +44,055
Australian dollar: +53,508
New Zealand dollar: +11,247
Mexican peso: +90,202
Go to the Commitment of Traders CME raw futures data
Further COT Resources from around the web:
