By CountingPips.com
The latest weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators raised their short bets against the US dollar while euro long positions improved for a fourth consecutive week.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators, added to their short bets against the US dollar to a total of $9.15 billion as of Tuesday February 5th.
This an increase from a total short position of $8.86 billion that was registered on January 29th, according to the CFTC’s COT data and trader position calculations by Reuters, which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
The dollar has been in an overall short position against these currencies since December 4th 2012.
Individual Currencies Large Speculators Positions:
The individual currency contracts against the US dollar last week saw increases for the euro, Japanese yen and the New Zealand dollar while the British pound sterling, Australian dollar, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso all had a decreasing number of contracts compared to the previous week.
EuroFX: Large trader and speculator sentiment for the euro advanced last week for a fourth consecutive week and remained at the best level since July 2011. Euro positions increased to a long position of 37,952 contracts in data reported on February 5th following the previous week’s total of 27,472 net long contracts on January 29th. Open interest was at 251,236 contracts from the previous week’s open interest of 237,856.
Euro positions are at their best level since July 5th 2011 when long positions equaled 43,194 contracts and when the EUR/USD was trading at the 1.4456 spot level.
The Commitment of Traders report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions data that was reported as of the previous Tuesday (3 days behind).
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 fell last week to decline for a third consecutive week and to the lowest position since November. British pound speculative positions decreased to a total of 1,174 net long contracts on February 5th following a total of 10,622 net long contracts reported on January 29th. Open interest was at 165,369 contracts from the previous week’s open interest of 166,060.
Pound speculator positions are now at their lowest level since November 20th 2012 when positions equaled just 730 long contracts.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts improved last week after falling the previous week. Japanese yen positions edged up to a total of 68,413 net short contracts reported on February 5th following a total of 71,246 net short contracts on January 29th. Open interest was at 217,709 contracts from the previous week’s open interest of 219,635.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions declined last week to fall for a third consecutive week. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures fell to a total of 3,876 net long contracts on February 5th following a total of 4,148 net long contracts as of January 29th. Open interest was at 43,585 contracts from the previous week’s open interest of 38,618.
Swiss franc large speculator positions, on January 15th, had reached their best level since June 14, 2011 when net long positions totaled 13,287 contracts before falling the past three weeks.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions decreased slightly last week to decline for a third consecutive week. Canadian dollar positions dropped to a total of 27,761 net long contracts as of February 5th following a total of 35,057 net long contracts that were reported for January 29th. Open interest was at 141,807 contracts from the previous week’s open interest of 144,927.
Canadian dollar speculator positions are at their lowest level since August 7th when long positions totaled 19,122 contracts.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions decreased last week for a second consecutive week. Aussie speculative futures positions dipped to a total net amount of 80,940 long contracts on February 5th after totaling 85,296 net long contracts as of January 29th. Open interest was at 180,781 contracts from the previous week’s open interest of 183,507.
Australian dollar contracts remain at a large bullish level against the US dollar and not far from the multi-year high level that was reached on December 11th with a total of 103,376 long contracts.
NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions rose last week after decreasing slightly the previous week. NZD contracts increased to a total of 20,700 net long contracts as of February 5th following a total of 21,816 net long contracts on January 29th. Open interest registered at 37,058 contracts from the previous week’s open interest total of 35,480.
The New Zealand dollar speculator positions have increased six out of the last seven weeks and are just below the 2012 high level that was reached on December 11th with a total of 24,600 contracts.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts declined again last week to fall for a third week in a row. Peso positions decreased lower to a total of 141,502 net long speculative positions as of February 5th following a total of 148,871 long contracts that were reported for January 29th. Open interest was at 181,131 contracts from the previous week’s open interest of 187,078.
Peso speculative positions, on January 15th, reached their highest level in over four years and surpassed the highest level of 2012 which numbered 149,355 long contracts on December 24th.
Article by CountingPips.com – Forex News & Market Analysis
