By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that futures speculators continued to add to 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 $35.36 billion against other major currencies as of the March 8th data release. This is a rise from a total short position of $34.9 billion on March 1st, 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.
This week’s notable changes included euro positions increasing to their highest level since December 2007 while Swiss franc and Canadian dollar positions rose to their highest levels in over a year.
EuroFx: Currency speculators added to their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar for a third consecutive week. Futures positions in the euro rose to a total of 62,294 long positions as of March 8th following a total of 51,308 long positions on March 1st.
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. The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.
GBP: Speculators increased their net long British pound sterling bets following two straight weeks of declines. Sterling long positions rose to a total of 33,906 long positions after totaling 25,809 long positions as of March 8th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts decreased as of March 8th to a total of 16,656 long contracts following a total of 41,274 net long contracts reported on March 1st.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions rose for a fourth consecutive week to a total of 23,661 long contracts, according to the COT data as of March 8th. Franc contracts totaled a net of 18,017 long contracts on March 1st. This is the highest level for franc positions since late 2009.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions rose for a second straight week to their highest position in over a year. CAD net contracts advanced to a total of 77,544 net long contracts on March 8 after registering 72,827 net longs on March 1st.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions increased for a third consecutive week. AUD contracts totaled a net amount of 73,695 long contracts as of March 8th after AUD positions had totaled 71,853 net long contracts on March 1st.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions headed lower for a fourth straight week to a total of 4,346 long positions as of March 8th. NZD large speculator long positions had dipped the previous week to a total of 7,411 long contracts on March 1st.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts rebounded after a decrease last week to a total of 113,165 net long contracts as of March 8th. MXN positions had fallen to 97,202 net long contracts on March 1st.
COT Data Summary as of March 8, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
Euro: +62,294
British pound sterling: +33,906
Japanese yen: +16,656
Swiss franc: +23,661
Canadian dollar: +77,544
Australian dollar: +73,695
New Zealand dollar: +4,346
Mexican peso: +113,165
Further COT Resources from around the web:
