The weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures traders and speculators sharply scaled back their total bullish bets of the US dollar last week. This is the third straight weekly decrease for US dollar bets after USD long positions reached their highest level on record (Reuters data) on May 28th.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators,slashed their overall US dollar long positions to a total of $14.55 billion as of Tuesday June 18th. This was a decrease from a total long position of $28.28 Billion registered on June 11th, 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.
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 showed 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 had a declining number of net large trader contracts for the week.
Individual Currency Charts:
EuroFX:
EuroFX: Large trader positions for the euro advanced sharply again last week and improved for a third consecutive week. Euro contracts increased to a total net position of +20,030 contracts in the data reported for June 18th following the previous week’s total of -7,533 net contracts on June 11th. This is the first time Euro contracts have been on the positive side since February 19th and are at the best level since February 12th when euro positions registered +24,181 contracts.
Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: EURO
| Date | Lg Trader Net | Change |
| 05/14/2013 | -46921 | -13388 |
| 05/21/2013 | -80949 | -34028 |
| 05/28/2013 | -84644 | -3695 |
| 06/04/2013 | -51621 | 33023 |
| 06/11/2013 | -7533 | 44088 |
| 06/18/2013 | 20030 | 27563 |
British Pound Sterling:
GBP: British pound speculative positions improved sharply last week for a second consecutive week and leveled at the best position since February. British pound speculative positions advanced to a total of -20,406 net contracts on June 18th following a total of -53,687 net contracts reported for June 11th. The last two weeks of increases have pushed GBP net positions to their best level since February 12th when positions equaled -16,307 contracts.
Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Pound Sterling
| date | Lg Trader Net | Change Weekly |
| 05/14/2013 | -65355 | -2269 |
| 05/21/2013 | -76976 | -11621 |
| 05/28/2013 | -74525 | 2451 |
| 06/04/2013 | -77738 | -3213 |
| 06/11/2013 | -53687 | 24051 |
| 06/18/2013 | -20406 | 33281 |
Japanese Yen:
JPY: Japanese yen net speculative contracts gained last week for a third consecutive week after falling to the lowest overall position in 2013 on May 28th. Japanese yen positions improved to a total of -61,890 net contracts on June 18th following a total of -72,906 net short contracts on June 11th. This is the best level in net positions since February 12th when positions equaled -61,306 contracts.
Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Yen
| date | Lg Trader Net | Change Weekly |
| 05/14/2013 | -88407 | -9847 |
| 05/21/2013 | -95186 | -6779 |
| 05/28/2013 | -99769 | -4583 |
| 06/04/2013 | -82744 | 17025 |
| 06/11/2013 | -72906 | 9838 |
| 06/18/2013 | -61890 | 11016 |
Swiss Franc:
CHF: Swiss franc large speculator positions surged last week and improved for a third consecutive week. Net positions for the Swiss currency futures rose to a total of +5,791 contracts on June 18th following a total of -20,738 net contracts reported for June 11th. Swiss franc net positions are now at their best level since January 22nd when positions equaled +6,384 contracts.
Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Franc
| date | Lg Trader Net | Change Weekly |
| 05/14/2013 | -15410 | -9175 |
| 05/21/2013 | -19930 | -4520 |
| 05/28/2013 | -28972 | -9042 |
| 06/04/2013 | -25803 | 3169 |
| 06/11/2013 | -20738 | 5065 |
| 06/18/2013 | 5791 | 26529 |
Canadian Dollar:
CAD: Canadian dollar positions improved last week for a second consecutive week and brought CAD positions to their best level since February 26th. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of -26,087 contracts as of June 18th following a total of -35,907 net contracts that were reported for June 11th.
Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: CAD
| date | Lg Trader Net | Change Weekly |
| 05/14/2013 | -44417 | 7499 |
| 05/21/2013 | -33852 | 10565 |
| 05/28/2013 | -33359 | 493 |
| 06/04/2013 | -39776 | -6417 |
| 06/11/2013 | -35907 | 3869 |
| 06/18/2013 | -26087 | 9820 |
Australian Dollar:
AUD: Australian dollar large speculator positions decreased slightly last week and dropped for the 12th straight week. Aussie speculative futures positions fell to a total net amount of -63,521 contracts on June 18th after totaling -63,277 net contracts as of June 11th. This is the sixth week of bearish Aussie large spec contracts.
Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: AUD
| date | Lg Trader Net | Change Weekly |
| 05/14/2013 | -13450 | -20080 |
| 05/21/2013 | -32409 | -18959 |
| 05/28/2013 | -42307 | -9898 |
| 06/04/2013 | -58550 | -16243 |
| 06/11/2013 | -63277 | -4727 |
| 06/18/2013 | -63521 | -244 |
New Zealand Dollar:
NZD: New Zealand dollar large speculator bets decreased slightly last week and fell for a seventh consecutive week. NZD contracts declined lower to a total of +2,126 net long contracts as of June 18th following a total of +2,653 net long contracts on June 11th.
Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: NZD
| date | Lg Trader Net | Change Weekly |
| 05/14/2013 | 23216 | -5320 |
| 05/21/2013 | 17782 | -5434 |
| 05/28/2013 | 14011 | -3771 |
| 06/04/2013 | 6013 | -7998 |
| 06/11/2013 | 2653 | -3360 |
| 06/18/2013 | 2126 | -527 |
Mexican Peso:
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts dropped sharply lower again last week and decreased for a fifth consecutive week. Peso positions fell lower to a total of +20,949 net speculative positions as of June 18th following a total of +63,774 contracts that were reported for June 11th. This is the lowest level for Mexican peso positions since July 3, 2012 when contracts equaled +17,475.
Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: MXN
| date | Lg Trader Net | Change Weekly |
| 05/07/2013 | 138444 | -107 |
| 05/14/2013 | 140319 | 1875 |
| 05/21/2013 | 136863 | -3456 |
| 05/28/2013 | 120864 | -15999 |
| 06/04/2013 | 82871 | -37993 |
| 06/18/2013 | 20949 | -42825 |
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
