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 increase their Euro and British pound sterling short bets for a fourth consecutive week while long US dollar bets overall edged higher.
Non-commercial futures traders, usually hedge funds and large speculators, added to their total US dollar long positions to $18.77 billion on January 17th from a total long position of $17.43 billion on January 10th, 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 continued to add to their Euro short positions as of January 17th and raised their short bets to a new record high. Euro short positions totaled 160,030 net short contracts from the previous week’s total of 155,195 net short contracts as speculator sentiment for the common European currency has declined for four consecutive weeks.
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 fourth consecutive week as of January 17th and to the lowest level since December 6th. British pound positions saw a total of 41,634 short positions on January 17th following a total of 35,853 net short positions registered on January 10th. This is the lowest level since speculators were short by 43,560 contracts on December 6th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long speculative contracts edged slightly lower but remained virtually unchanged from the previous week, according to the latest data on January 17th. Yen long positions dipped to a total of 58,862 net long contracts reported on January 17th following a total of 59,657 net long contracts that were reported on January 10th. Yen speculative positions on January 10th registered their highest level in over a year surpassing the August 2nd level when long positions leveled at 58,833 contracts.
CHF: Swiss franc speculators slightly increased their short bets against the Swiss currency as of January 17th although positions have barely changed in the past three weeks. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures numbered a total of 12,822 net short contracts on January 17th following a total of 12,097 net short contracts as of January 10th. Swiss contracts have now been on the short side by more than 10,000 contracts for four consecutive weeks.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions fell slightly for a third consecutive week to a total of 28,730 net short contracts as of January 17th following a total of 28,649 short contracts reported on January 10th. CAD positions are at their lowest level in at least a year.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions advanced higher for a fourth consecutive week as of January 17th. Australian dollar positions increased to a total net amount of 54,306 long contracts on January 17th after totaling 53,526 net long contracts reported as of January 10th. The AUD speculative positions are at their highest level since August 2nd when Australian dollar long positions totaled 75,598.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions jumped higher and rose for a fourth consecutive week through January 17th. NZD contracts increased to a total of 9,455 net long contracts as of January 17th following a total of 5,029 net long contracts registered the previous week. NZD positions have increased for four straight weeks from the December 20th low standing (which was the lowest position since March 29th when positions equaled 239 long contracts) to the highest level since November 15th.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts improved slightly against the US dollar for a second consecutive week. Peso short positions numbered a total of 17,328 net short speculative positions as of January 17th following a total of 22,332 short contracts that were reported on January 10th. Peso contracts are now after best level since November 15th when short contracts equaled 15,021.
COT Currency Data Summary as of January 17, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -160030
GBP -41634
JPY +58862
CHF -12822
CAD -28730
AUD +54306
NZD +9455
MXN -17328
Other COT Trading Resources:
Trading Forex Using the COT Report
