By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that overall US dollar long positions by large futures speculators were unchanged last week from the week before. The long dollar positions had fallen for the previous two straight weeks as traders boosted positions in the other major currencies.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, maintained their total US dollar long positions at $13.65 billion on August 7th from a total long position of $13.65 billion on July 31st, 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 speculator sentiment for the euro improved for a third consecutive week last week and remained at its best level since May. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency fell to 131,711 contracts on August 7th from the previous week’s total of 138,994 net short contracts on July 31st. Euro short positions are at their best level since May 1 when short positions equaled 106,990 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, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a 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 declined after improving slightly for three consecutive weeks. British pound sterling speculative positions totaled 8,275 net short contracts on August 7th following a total of 1,810 net short contracts on July 31st. Last week’s position for the British currency was the lowest level since June 19th when short positions equaled 17,153 contracts.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts dipped slightly on August 7th following five consecutive weeks of increases. Yen positions fell to a total of 27,539 net long contracts reported on August 7th following a total of 32,254 net long contracts on July 31st.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions edged higher last week to increase for a second consecutive week. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 17,915 net short contracts on August 7th following a total of 18,808 net short contracts as of July 31st.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions advanced higher for a second consecutive week after after being on the short side for two weeks. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of 19,122 net long contracts as of August 7th following a total of 12,449 net short contracts that were reported for July 31st. The Canadian currency positions are now at the highest level since May 29th when long positions equaled 34,085 contracts.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions once again surged sharply higher last week and brought Aussie trader sentiment to its highest level since March. Aussie speculative futures positions advanced to a total net amount of 52,894 long contracts on August 7th after totaling 37,235 net long contracts as of July 31st. The improvement in Aussie contracts pushed positions to their highest level since March 26th when long positions totaled 59,574 contracts.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions increased for a ninth straight week and jumped to the highest level since March. NZD contracts increased to a total of 14,588 net long contracts as of August 7th following a total of 10,347 net long contracts on July 31st. The kiwi contracts are now at their highest level since March 5th when contracts equaled 16,788 long positions.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts surged higher last week after dipping slightly the previous week. Peso positions increased to a total of 69,378 net long speculative positions as of August 7th following a total of 47,556 long contracts that were reported for July 31st. Peso positions are now at their highest level since April 2nd when long positions equaled 84,503 contracts and stood at their highest level of the year.
COT Currency Data Summary as of August 7, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -131711
GBP -8275
JPY +27539
CHF -17915
CAD +19122
AUD +52894
NZD +14588
MXN +69378
