By CountingPips.com
The most recent Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators cut back their short positions of the US dollar against the other major currencies while increasing bets against the Japanese yen. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $25.18 billion against other major currencies as of April 5th. The data is a decline from the total short position of $27.77 billion on March 29th, 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 most notable change was Japanese yen positions declining sharply for a second straight week to their lowest level in almost a year. Australian dollar futures positions increased to the highest level of the year while euro positions advanced for a third straight week.
EuroFx: Currency speculators increased 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 59,857 long positions as of April 5th following a total of 56,630 long positions on March 29th.
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: British pound sterling bets rebounded as of April 5th to a total of 32,414 net long positions after declining the week before to a total of 743 long contracts on March 29th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts dropped sharply for a second straight week. Yen contracts dropped to a total of 43,231 short contracts following a total of 7,052 net long contracts reported on March 29th. This is the lowest level for yen contracts since May 2010.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions were lower for a third straight week as of April 5th. Franc positions declined to a total of 10,843 net long contracts following a net of 18,957 long contracts on March 29th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions increased higher for a second consecutive week. CAD positions rose to a total of 65,030 contracts as of April 5th after CAD net contracts had edged higher to a total of 51,245 net long contracts as of March 29th.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions rose higher last week to the highest level in over a year. AUD contracts totaled a net amount of 90,938 long contracts as of April 5th after AUD positions had totaled 85,565 net long contracts on March 29th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions edged slightly higher for a third consecutive week. NZD contracts increased to a total of 2,695 long positions as of April 5th from a total of 239 long contracts on March 29th.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts rebounded higher to a total of 119,062 net long contracts on April 5th. MXN positions had been about unchanged the week before at a total of 88,075 long contracts as of March 29th.
COT Data Summary as of April 5, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR: +59,857
GBP: +32,414
JPY: -43,231
CHF: +10,843
CAD: +65,030
AUD: +90,938
NZD: +2,695
MXN: +119,062
Further COT Resources from around the web:
