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 held by large futures speculators decreased last week to the lowest level all year as traders continue to increase bets in the riskier currencies.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, cut their total US dollar long positions to $8.92 billion on August 14th from a total long position of $11.7 billion on August 7th, 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 dipped last week after improving for three consecutive weeks. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency rose to 137,810 contracts on August 14th from the previous week’s total of 131,711 net short contracts on August 7th. Euro short positions, on August 7th, were 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 improved last week and brought contracts to a virtual neutral level against the US dollar. British pound sterling speculative positions totaled 288 net short contracts on August 14th following a total of 8,275 net short contracts on August 7th. The latest week’s position for the British currency is the best level since May 29th long positions equaled 1,475 contracts.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts edged up slightly on August 14th following a dip the previous week. Japanese yen positions totaled 30,704 net long contracts reported on August 14th following a total of 27,539 net long contracts on August 7th.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions edged lower last week after improving for two consecutive weeks. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 18,854 net short contracts on August 14th following a total of 17,915 net short contracts as of August 7th.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions advanced higher for a third consecutive week and to the best level since May. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of 20,593 net long contracts as of August 14th following a total of 19,122 net short contracts that were reported for August 7th. The Canadian currency positions are at the highest level since May 29th when long positions equaled 34,085 contracts.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions continued to surge sharply higher last week and rose for the fourth consecutive week. Aussie speculative futures positions advanced to a total net amount of 66,679 long contracts on August 14th after totaling 52,894 net long contracts as of August 7th. The improvement in Aussie contracts pushed positions to their highest level since March 12th when long positions totaled 66,756 contracts.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions increased for a 10th straight week and are at the highest level since early March. NZD contracts increased to a total of 15,247 net long contracts as of August 14th following a total of 14,588 net long contracts on August 7th. The kiwi contracts are at their highest level since March 5th when contracts equaled 16,788 long positions.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts surged higher once again last week and rose to the second highest level all year. Peso positions increased to a total of 83,511 net long speculative positions as of August 14th following a total of 69,378 long contracts that were reported for August 7th. Peso positions are at their highest level since April 2nd when long positions equaled 84,503 contracts which is the highest level of the year.
COT Currency Data Summary as of August 14, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -137810
GBP -288
JPY +30704
CHF -18854
CAD +28593
AUD +66679
NZD +15247
MXN +83511
