Forex Speculators slashed US Dollar bets last week. Euro bets Surge

By CountingPips.com

The weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures traders sharply cut their total bullish bets of the US dollar last week and decreased their holdings for a second consecutive week.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators, pulled back on their overall US dollar long positions to a total of $28.28 billion as of Tuesday June 11th. This was a decrease from a total long position of $39.12 Billion registered on June 4th, according to position calculations by Reuters that derives this total by the amount of US dollar positions against the combined positions of euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

On May 28th, US dollar long positions reached their highest level on record (Reuters data) with a total of $43.77 billion before retreating.

What is the COT Report:

The weekly cot report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators).

Individual Currencies Large Speculators Positions in Futures:

The individual currency speculator net positions saw advances for the euro, British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc last week while the New Zealand dollar, Australian dollar and the Mexican peso all had a declining number of net large trader contracts for the week.

Individual Currency Charts:

EuroFX:

EuroFX: Large trader positions for the euro surged sharply last week and improved for a second consecutive week. Euro contracts jumped to a total net position of -7,533 contracts in the data reported for June 11th following the previous week’s total of -51,621 net contracts on June 4th. This is the best level for euro positions since February 19th when euro positions were a +19,103.

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: EURO

British Pound Sterling:

GBP: British pound spec positions also improved sharply last week after declining slightly the previous week. British pound speculative positions advanced to a total of -53,687 net contracts on June 11th following a total of -77,738 contracts reported for June 4th. The increase on June 11th brings the British pound sterling contracts off of the lowest level for 2013 reached on June 4th.

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Pound Sterling

Japanese Yen:

JPY: Japanese yen net speculative contracts improved last week for a second consecutive week after falling to the lowest overall position in 2013 on May 28th. Japanese yen positions improved to a total of -72,906 net contracts on June 11th following a total of -82,744 net short contracts on June 4th.

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Yen

Swiss Franc:

CHF: Swiss franc large speculator positions improved last week for a second consecutive week.  Net positions for the Swiss currency futures improved to a total of -20,738 contracts on June 11th following a total of -25,803 net contracts reported for June 4th. Swiss franc large speculator positions have gone higher for two straight weeks after falling to the lowest level of 2013 on May 28th.

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Franc

Canadian Dollar:

CAD: Canadian dollar positions improved last week after declining the previous week. Canadian dollar positions advanced to a total of -35,907 contracts as of June 11th following a total of -39,776 net contracts that were reported for June 4th. Before a decline on June 4th, Canadian dollar large spec positions had improved for six consecutive weeks.

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: CAD

Australian Dollar:

AUD: Australian dollar large speculator positions continued to decrease last week and fell for the 11th straightweek. Aussie speculative futures positions dropped to a total net amount of -63,277 contracts on June 11th after totaling -58,550 net contracts as of June 4th. This is the fifth week of bearish Aussie large spec contracts after having been in positive territory since June 26, 2012 and the fall has coincided with the steep drop in the AUD/USD currency pair.

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: AUD

New Zealand Dollar:

NZD: New Zealand dollar large speculator bets fell once again last week and decreased for a sixth consecutive week. NZD contracts declined lower to a total of +2,653 net long contracts as of June 11th following a total of +6,013 net long contracts on June 4th.

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: NZD

Mexican Peso:

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts fell sharply lower again last week and declined for a fourth consecutive week. Peso positions dropped to a total of +63,774 net speculative positions as of June 11th following a total of +82,871 contracts that were reported for June 4th. This is the lowest level for Mexican peso positions since July 31, 2012 when contracts equaled +47,556.

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: MXN

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.)

See more information and explanation on the weekly COT report from the CFTC website.

Article by CountingPips.com