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 while bets on the British pound sterling were on the rise. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, added to their long positions in favor of the Swiss franc, British pound sterling, Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar directly against the US dollar while decreasing their bets for the euro, Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar and the Mexican peso, according to data on August 23rd.
This week’s notable changes were Australian dollar positions rebounding to over 43,000 net long contracts after a sharp decline on August 9th while British pound sterling positions increased back over to a net long amount of contracts after being on the short side by 3,096 contracts on August 16th.
EuroFX: Currency speculators decreased their futures positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar after a rebound in the previous week’s futures positions. Euro positions dipped as of August 23rd to a total of 2,539 net long contracts from the previous week’s total of 6,726 net long contracts on August 16th. 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 rebounded after declining for two consecutive weeks and ascended back over to a total net long position as of August 23rd. Pound positions increased to a total of 10,961 long positions following a total of 3,096 short positions as of August 16th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts dipped slightly as of August 23rd from the previous week. Yen net long positions edged lower to a total of 47,139 net long contracts reported on August 23rd following a total of 47,348 net long contracts reported on August 16th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions rose higher for a second consecutive week after falling to the lowest level all year on August 9th. Speculators increased bets on Swiss currency futures to a total of 9,637 net long contracts as of August 23rd following a total of 9,008 net long contracts as of August 16th. Swiss franc speculative futures positions had dropped to their lowest level in over a year on August 9th at a total of 4,655 net long contracts.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions increased after declining sharply for two consecutive weeks. CAD net contracts rose to a total of 8,804 net long contracts as of August 23rd following a decline to a total of 4,121 net long contracts on August 16th.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions rose for a second consecutive week as of August 23rd following a sharp decline on August 9th. AUD futures positions advanced higher to a total net amount of 43,574 long contracts as of August 23rd following a total of 29,723 net long contracts reported as of August 16th. 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 third consecutive week to a total of 16,876 net long contracts on August 23rd following a decline to 18,417 net long contracts registered on August 16th. 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 before declining for three consecutive weeks.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts edged lower and declined for a fourth straight week as of August 23rd. Peso positions declined to a total of 21,835 net long speculative positions as of August 23rd following a total of 22,634 contracts that were reported as of August 16th. 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 23, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR +2539
GBP +10961
JPY +47139
CHF +9637
CAD +8804
AUD +43574
NZD +16876
MXN +21835
