By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators increased their positions in favor of the US dollar against the other major currencies last week. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $27.68 billion against other major currencies as of May 10th. The data is a decline from the total short position of $35.01 billion on May 3rd, 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 were euro positions decreasing after reaching the highest level since July 2007 while Japanese yen positions improved for a third straight week and positions rose over to the long side for the first time since March.
EuroFx: Currency speculators decreased their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar after two weeks of increases. Euro futures positions declined to a total of 61,447 long contracts following a total of 99,516 long positions on May 3rd which had marked the highest level since July 2007.
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 positions edged lower for a second straight week as of May 10th to a total of 18,118 net long positions. This follows a decline the week before to a total of 30,807 long contracts on May 3rd.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts improved for the third consecutive week and rose over to the long side for the first time since March. Yen positions increased to a total of 13,054 net long contracts reported on May 10th following a total of 18,819 net short contracts on May 3rd.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions edged lower after increasing for four straight weeks. Franc positions fell to a total of 16,336 net long contracts following a net of 18,381 long contracts on May 3rd.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions declined lower for a third consecutive week to a total of 37,203 contracts as of May 10th. CAD net contracts had fallen to a total of 54,041 net long contracts on May 3rd.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions declined for the fifth straight week to a total net amount of 60,321 long contracts as of May 10th. AUD positions had totaled 73,421 net long contracts on May 3rd.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions continued to increase higher for an eighth consecutive week. NZD contracts increased to a total of 13,714 long positions as of May 10th from a total of 12,800 long contracts on May 3rd.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts dipped for a third week after reaching the highest level in at least a year on April 19th. MXN contracts fell to 118,065 net long contracts as of May 10th from a total of 124,260 long contracts as of May 3rd.
COT Data Summary as of May 10, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR: +61,447
GBP: +18,118
JPY: +13,054
CHF: +16,336
CAD: +37,203
AUD: +60,321
NZD: +13,714
MXN: +118,065
