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 long positions for the euro against the US dollar last week after two weeks of declines. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators added to long positions for the euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and the Australian dollar against the US dollar while trimming bets for the Canadian dollar, New Zealand dollar, British pound sterling and the Mexican peso, according to CFTC data on August 16th.
This week’s changes include the euro contracts leveling back over in positive long territory while British pound positions fell back over to the short side and Mexican peso positions touching the lowest level since September 2010.
EuroFX: Currency speculators increased their futures positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar after two consecutive weeks of declines and net contracts were back in the positive column. Euro positions rose as of August 16th to a total of 6,726 net long contracts from the previous week’s total of 8,273 net short contracts on August 9th. Euro positions on August 9th were 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 second straight week and fell back over to the short side for the first time since July 19th. Pound positions declined to a total of 3,096 short positions following a total of 245 net long positions as of August 9th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts increased as of August 16th after contracts dipped the previous week. Yen net long positions rose to a total of 47,348 net long contracts reported on August 16th following a total of 42,149 net long contracts reported on August 9th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions rebounded after falling to the lowest level all year on August 9th. Speculators increased bets on Swiss currency futures to a total of 9,008 net long contracts as of August 16th following a total of 4,655 net long contracts as of August 9th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions declined sharply for a second straight week and fell to the lowest level in over a month. CAD net contracts dropped to a total of 4,121 net long contracts as of August 16th following a decline to a total of 23,704 net long contracts on August 9th.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions rose just slightly as of August 16th following a sharp decline the previous week. AUD futures positions edged higher to a total net amount of 29,723 long contracts as of August 16th following a total of 29,016 net long contracts reported as of August 9th. The August 9th level at 29,723 marked the lowest level for Australian dollar speculative positions since November 2010.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions declined for a second consecutive week to a total of 18,417 net long contracts on August 16th following a decline to 20,427 registered on August 9th. NZD contracts had increased for five straight weeks to their highest level in over a year at 24,126 net long positions as of August 2nd.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts continued to fall lower for a second straight week as of August 16th. Peso positions declined to a total of 22,634 net long speculative positions as of August 16th following a total of 41,293 contracts that were reported as of August 9th. Peso positions are currently at their lowest level since September 14th of 2010 when net contracts equaled 14,957.
COT Data Summary as of August 16, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR +6726
GBP -3096
JPY +47348
CHF +9008
CAD +4121
AUD +29723
NZD +18417
MXN +22634
