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 cut their long positions of the euro against the US dollar last week to the lowest level since January while bets on the Japanese yen continued to rise. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, added to their positions in favor of the Japanese yen, Swiss franc, British pound sterling, Canadian dollar and the New Zealand dollar directly against the US dollar while decreasing their bets for the euro, Australian dollar and the Mexican peso, according to data on August 2nd.
This week’s notable changes were Japanese yen positions rising for a fifth straight week to the highest level in over a year while New Zealand dollar positions also continued to rise and increased to their highest level in over a year.
EuroFX: Currency speculators decreased their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar to the lowest level since January. Euro positions fell as of August 2nd to a total of 1,753 net long contracts from the previous week’s total of 17,038 contracts on July 26th. Euro positions are at their lowest point since January 11th when net contracts were on the short side at -45,182.
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 increased higher for a fourth consecutive week after touching the lowest level in over a year on July 5th at -31,660. British pound contracts rose to a net long total of 5,139 contracts on August 2nd following a net long position of 1,222 contracts reported on July 26th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts advanced for the fifth straight week as yen positions rose to the highest position in over a year. Yen net long positions increased to a total of 58,833 net long contracts reported on August 2nd following a total of 51,302 net long contracts reported on July 26th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions rose to the highest level since June as speculators increased bets on Swiss currency futures. Franc positions advanced to a total of 12,341 net long contracts as of August 2nd following a net total of 7,877 long contracts on July 26th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions rose higher for a fifth consecutive week to a total of 41,037 contracts as of August 2nd. CAD net contracts had advanced to a total of 36,141 net long contracts on July 26th as Canadian dollar positions continue to rebound after decreasing over to a net short total position on June 11th and are now at the highest level since May 3rd.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions declined after increasing for four straight weeks. AUD futures positions fell to a total net amount of 75,598 long contracts as of August 2nd following a total of 81,438 net long contracts reported as of July 26th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions continued to rise higher for a fifth consecutive week and leveled at their highest level in over a year. NZD contracts increased to a total of 24,126 net long positions as of August 2nd from a total of 23,291 long contracts on July 26th.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts dipped lower as of August 2nd. Peso positions declined to a total of 88,484 net long speculative positions as of August 2nd following a total of 91,913 contracts that were reported as of July 26th.
COT Data Summary as of August 2, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR +1763
GBP +5139
JPY +58833
CHF +12341
CAD +41037
AUD +75598
NZD +24126
MXN +88484
