By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators added to their long positions of the euro against the US dollar while continuing to increase bets on the Japanese yen. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, added to their positions in favor of the euro, Japanese yen, British pound sterling, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the New Zealand dollar directly against the US dollar while decreasing their bets for the Swiss franc, according to data on July 26th.
This week’s notable changes were New Zealand dollar positions rising for a fourth straight week to the highest level since November while Japanese yen dollar positions also continued to rise and increased to their highest level since September 2010.
EuroFX: Currency speculators increased their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar reversing two straight weeks of declines. Euro positions rose as of July 26th to a total of 17,038 net long contracts from the previous week’s total of 9,246 contracts on July 19th. Euro positions on July 19th were at their lowest point since January 18th when net long contracts equaled 4,109.
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, where as a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and 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 increased higher for a third consecutive week after touching the lowest level in over a year on July 5th. British pound contracts rose over to the long side to a net long total of 1,222 contracts on July 26th following a net short position of 6,714 contracts reported on July 19th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts advanced for the fourth consecutive week as yen positions rose to the highest position since September 2010 when long contracts numbered 52,183. Yen net long positions increased to a total of 51,302 net long contracts reported on July 26th following a total of 42,155 net long contracts reported on July 19th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions decreased lower after rising for two consecutive weeks. Franc positions fell to a total of 7,877 net long contracts as of July 26th following a net of 11,494 long contracts on July 19th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions rose higher for a fourth consecutive week to a total of 36,141 contracts as of July 26th. CAD net contracts had risen to a total of 27,764 net long contracts on July 19th as CAD positions continue to rebound after decreasing over to a net short total position on June 11th.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions advanced for the fourth straight week to a total net amount of 81,438 long contracts as of July 26th. AUD positions had totaled 77,795 net long contracts on July 19th and now sit at the highest level since April 26th when net long positions were 80,867.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions continued to rise higher for a fourth consecutive week and leveled at the highest level since November 2010 when positions reached 23,445 net long contracts . Last week, NZD contracts increased to a total of 23,291 net long positions as of July 26th from a total of 21,438 long contracts on July 19th.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts edged higher last week after a dip lower the previous week. Peso positions rose to a total of 91,913 net long speculative positions as of July 26th following a total of 89,266 contracts on July 19th.
COT Data Summary as of July 26, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR +17038
GBP +1222
JPY +51302
CHF +7877
CAD +36141
AUD +81438
NZD +23291
MXN +91913
