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 raised their overall long bets for the US dollar last week against the other major currencies while Euro short positions continued to increase and rose to a new record level for a third consecutive week.
Non-commercial futures traders, usually hedge funds and large speculators, added to their total US dollar long positions to $17.43 billion on January 10th from a total long position of $15.71 billion on January 3rd, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
Individual Currencies:
EuroFX: Currency speculators once again added to their Euro short positions as of January 10th and raised their short bets to a new record high. Euro short positions numbered a total of 155,195 net short contracts from the previous week’s total of 138,909 net short contracts as sentiment for the common European currency erodes.
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: Bearish bets of the British pound sterling rose for a third consecutive week as of January 10th to the lowest level since November 22nd. British pound positions saw a total of 35,853 short positions on January 10th following a total of 31,899 net short positions registered on January 3rd.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long speculative contracts increased higher for a second consecutive week, according to the latest data on January 10th. Yen long positions rose to a total of 59,657 net long contracts reported on January 10th following a total of 56,481 net long contracts that were reported on January 3rd. Yen speculative positions are now at their highest level in over a year surpassing the August 2nd level when long positions registered 58,833 contracts.
CHF: Swiss franc speculators slightly decreased their short bets against the Swiss currency as of January 10th. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures numbered a total of 12,097 net short contracts on January 10th following a total of 12,355 net short contracts as of January 3rd.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions fell for a second consecutive week to a total of 20,649 net short contracts as of January 10th following a total of 23,371 short contracts reported on January 3rd. CAD positions are now at their lowest level in at least a year after surpassing the previous low registered on November 29th at 26,869 short contracts.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions advanced higher for a third consecutive week as of January 10th. Australian dollar positions increased to a total net amount of 53,526 long contracts on January 10th after totaling 46,537 net long contracts reported as of January 3rd. The AUD speculative positions are now at their highest level since August 2nd when Australian dollar long positions totaled 75,598.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions increased higher for a third consecutive week through January 10th. NZD contracts increased to a total of 5,029 net long contracts as of January 10th following a total of 2,436 net long contracts registered the previous week. NZD positions have increased for three straight weeks from the December 20th standing (612 long contracts) which was the lowest position since March 29th when positions equaled 239 long contracts.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts improved slightly against the US dollar as traders continue to short the Mexican currency and the positions have made little movement since turning over to the short side. Peso short positions numbered a total of 22,332 net short speculative positions as of January 10th following a total of 25,829 short contracts that were reported on January 3rd.
COT Currency Data Summary as of January 10, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -155195
GBP -35853
JPY +59657
CHF -12097
CAD -28649
AUD +53526
NZD +5029
MXN -22332
Other COT Trading Resources:
Trading Forex Using the COT Report
