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 decreased their overall US dollar long positions last week while Japanese yen positions fell sharply for a fourth consecutive week and declined to their lowest level since May 2011.
Non-commercial futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, increased their total US dollar long positions to $12.98 billion on February 28th from a total long position of $17.25 billion on February 21st, 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 sharply decreased their Euro short positions as sentiment for the euro currency improved for a second consecutive week last week. Euro net short positions decreased to 109,674 contracts against the currency on February 28th from the previous week’s total of 142,159 net short contracts.
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 improved for a second consecutive week to see their best position since September, according to the data as of February 28th. British pound positions saw a total of 23,235 net short positions on February 28th following a total of 31,350 net short positions registered on February 21st. British pound sterling positions are now their best level since September 6th when positions equaled 13,220 short contracts.
JPY: The Japanese yen speculative contracts continued to decline last week to fall for a fourth consecutive week and dropped over to a total short positions for the first time since May 2011, according to the data on February 28th. Yen positions dropped to a total of 1,203 net short contracts reported on February 28th following a total of 17,257 net long contracts on February 21st. Yen speculative positions, now in short territory, are at their lowest level since May 31st when positions totaled 1,648 short contracts.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions improved just slightly from the previous week. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 19,391 net short contracts on February 28th following a total of 19,846 net short contracts as of February 21st.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions rose higher for a fourth consecutive week and continue to be at their highest level since August. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of 22,480 net long contracts as of February 28th following a total of 14,112 long contracts that were reported for February 21st. CAD positions are now at their highest position since August 7th 2011 when long contracts equaled 23,704.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions rose slightly for the second consecutive week. Australian dollar positions increased to a total net amount of 78,201 long contracts on February 28th after totaling 74,700 net long contracts reported as of February 21st. The AUD speculative positions are now at their highest level since Australian dollar long positions totaled 81,438 on July 26th 2011.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions decreased after they had risen for nine consecutive weeks through February 21st. NZD contracts fell to a total of 22,114 net long contracts as of February 28th following a total of 24,211 net long contracts on February 21st. NZD contracts on February 21st had passed the previous 12-month high level recorded on August 2nd when net long contracts totaled 24,126.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts improved for an eighth straight week and continued to be at the best position since August 2nd. Peso long positions numbered a total of 60,750 net long speculative positions as of February 28th following a total of 49,425 long contracts that were reported for February 21st.
COT Currency Data Summary as of February 28, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -109674
GBP -23235
JPY -1203
CHF -19391
CAD +22480
AUD +78201
NZD +22114
MXN +60750
Other COT Trading Resources:
Trading Forex Using the COT Report
