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 decreased their short positions against the US dollar as of June 21st. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $17.05 billion against other major currencies as of June 21st, according to a report published by Reuters. The data is a decline from the total short position of $25.14 billion registered on June 14th, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian will dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
This week’s notable changes were Japanese yen positions rising to their highest level since March while Canadian dollar positions fell to their lowest level since September 2010.
EuroFX: Currency speculators decreased their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar for a second straight week. Euro futures positions declined to a total of 29,771 long contracts as of June 21st following a total of 49,894 long positions on June 14th.
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 declined over to the short side as of June 21st after previously improving for three straight weeks. Pound contracts decreased to a total of 11,360 net short positions as of June 21st following a total of 11,226 long contracts on June 14th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts rose for a third consecutive week to a total of 32,594 net long contracts reported on June 21st following a total of 24,768 net long contracts on June 14th. This is the highest total for yen positions since March 22nd when contracts totaled 34,525.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions decreased for a third straight week as of June 21st. Franc positions fell to a total of 11,813 net long contracts following a net of 13,287 long contracts on June 14th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions decreased last week and fell to the lowest level since September of 2010. CAD positions decline to a total of 2,204 long contracts on June 21st following a total of 18,855 long contracts on June 14th.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions fell on June 21st after rising higher for four consecutive weeks. AUD contracts decreased to a total net amount of 54,571 long contracts as of June 21st. AUD positions had totaled 67,670 net long contracts on June 14th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions dipped last week after rising for four consecutive weeks and to the highest level all year. NZD contracts declined to a total of 18,849 long positions as of June 21st from a total of 19,218 long contracts on June 14th.
MXN: Mexican peso net long contracts decreased for a fourth straight week to the lowest level since September 2010. MXN contracts fell to 41,423 net long contracts as of June 21st from a total of 48,163 long contracts as of June 14th.
COT Data Summary as of June 21, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR: +29771
GBP: -11360
JPY: +32594
CHF: +11813
CAD: +2204
AUD: +54571
NZD: +18849
MXN: +41423
