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 continued to decrease their long positions for the euro against the US dollar last week to an overall net short position for the first time since January 11th. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, trimmed their positions of all the major currencies against the US dollar as bets for the Japanese yen, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, New Zealand dollar, euro, British pound sterling, Australian dollar and the Mexican peso all declined, according to data on August 2nd.
Some of this week’s notable changes were Swiss franc positions falling to the lowest level in over a year while Australian dollar positions plummeted to their lowest level since November 2010.
EuroFX: Currency speculators decreased their futures positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar for a second consecutive week to a overall net short position. Euro positions fell as of August 9th to a total of 8,273 net short contracts from the previous week’s total of 1,753 net long contracts on August 2nd. 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 decreased for the first time in five weeks to a total of 245 net long positions as of August 9th. British pound contracts had risen for four straight weeks to a net long total of 5,139 contracts on August 2nd.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts fell after gaining for five straight weeks. Yen net long positions decreased to a total of 42,149 net long contracts reported on August 9th following a total of 58,833 net long contracts reported on August 2nd. Yen positions were at the highest position in over a year on August 2nd.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions fell to the lowest level all year as speculators decreased bets on Swiss currency futures. Franc positions declined to a total of 4,655 net long contracts as of August 9th following a net total of 12,341 long contracts on August 2nd.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions declined sharply after rising for five consecutive weeks. CAD net contracts fell to a total of 23,704 contracts as of August 9th following an advance to a total of 41,037 net long contracts on August 2nd.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions declined sharply as of August 9th. AUD futures positions fell for a second straight week to a total net amount of 29,016 long contracts as of August 9th following a total of 75,598 net long contracts reported as of August 2nd. This is the lowest level for Australian dollar speculative positions since November 2010.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions fell from their highest level in over a year to a total of 20,427 net long positions as of August 9th. NZD contracts had increased for five straight weeks to a total of 24,126 net long positions as of August 2nd.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts fell sharply lower as of August 9th. Peso positions declined to a total of 41,293 net long speculative positions as of August 9th following a total of 88,484 contracts that were reported as of August 2nd.
COT Data Summary as of August 9, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR: -8,273
GBP: +245
JPY: +42,149
CHF: +4,655
CAD: +23,704
AUD: +29,016
NZD: +20,427
MXN: +41,293
