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 heavily increased their bullish bets in favor of the US dollar and pushed their bearish bets for the euro to the highest level since June 2010.
Non-commercial futures traders, usually hedge funds and large speculators, increased their total US dollar long positions to $18.04 billion on November 29th from a total long position of $12.11 billion on November 22nd, 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.
EuroFX: Currency speculators continued to add to their short bets for the euro against the U.S. dollar for a third consecutive week as of November 29th. Euro short positions rose to a total of 104,302 net contracts from the previous week’s total of 85,068 net short contracts. Last week’s short position is a new low level for euro positions all year and the highest short level since June 8th of 2010 when euro short positions totaled 111,945.
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: Currency speculators increased their bearish bets against the British pound sterling for third consecutive week as of November 29th. British pound positions fell to a total of 46,660 short positions following a total of 36,634 net short positions registered on November 22nd. The decline in British pound positions marked the lowest level since November 1st.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long speculative contracts dipped last week following three consecutive weeks of increases. Yen long positions fell to a total of 40,547 net long contracts reported on November 29th following a total of 43,180 net long contracts that were reported on November 22nd.
CHF: Swiss franc positions dropped for a third consecutive week and to a new low level all year against the dollar last week. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures edged down to a total of 9,327 net short contracts following a total of 5,870 net short contracts as of November 22nd. The Swiss currency has seen limited strength in Forex trading since the Swiss National Bank initiated a policy to stem the strength of their currency.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions edged lower for a fourth consecutive week as of November 29th. CAD net contracts decreased to a total of 26,869 net short contracts as of November 29th following a total of 22,144 short contracts reported on November 22nd. CAD positions are now at their lowest level of the year, surpassing the previous low that was reached on October 11th when net short positions fell to 24,913.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions fell lower for the third consecutive week as of November 29th. Australian dollar positions declined to a total net amount of 12,542 long contracts following a total of 17,960 net long contracts reported as of November 22nd. The AUD speculative positions are now at their lowest level since October 11th when Aussie long positions total 10,753.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions fell sharply last week for a third consecutive week. NZD contracts declined to a total of 3,718 net long contracts as of November 29th following a total of 7,916 net long contracts registered on November 22nd. Last week’s decline brought New Zealand dollar positions to the lowest level since April 5th when positions equaled 2,695 long contracts.
MXN: Mexican peso contracts fell last week for a second consecutive week and to a new lowest level all year. Peso positions declined to a total of 36,240 net short speculative positions as of November 29th following a total of 31,582 short contracts that were reported on November 22nd.
COT Currency Data Summary as of November 29, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -104302
GBP -46660
JPY +40547
CHF -9327
CAD -26869
AUD +12542
NZD +3718
MXN -36240
