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 decreased their US dollar long positions last week and Euro short positions improved for the second straight week off their record low level.
Non-commercial futures traders, usually hedge funds and large speculators, decreased their total US dollar long positions to $10.63 billion on February 7th from a total long position of $14.22 billion on January 31st, 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.
Individual Currencies:
EuroFX: Currency speculators decreased their Euro short positions for a second consecutive week as of February 7th after registering a new record high for euro short bets on January 24th. Euro net short positions totaled 140,593 short bets against the euro currency from the previous week’s total of 157,546 net short contracts.
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 declined after two weeks of improvement, according to the data as of February 7th. British pound positions saw a total of 33,122 short positions on February 7th following a total of 26,214 net short positions registered on January 31st.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long speculative contracts dipped last week after increasing the previous week, according to the latest data on February 7th. Yen long positions fell to a total of 55,171 net long contracts reported on February 7th following a total of 56,669 net long contracts that were reported on January 31st. Yen speculative positions are still just below their highest level in over a year that was registered on January 10th when contracts surpassed the August 2nd level of 58,833 contracts.
CHF: Swiss franc speculators slightly decreased their short bets against the Swiss currency for a third consecutive week as of February 7th. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures numbered a total of 9,795 net short contracts on February 7th following a total of 11,222 net short contracts as of January 31st. Swiss contracts had been on the short side by more than 10,000 contracts for six consecutive weeks before last week’s slight turnaround.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions surged higher and crossed over to a total long position for the first time since the beginning of September. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of 2,184 net long contracts as of February 7th following a total of 19,409 short contracts reported on January 31st. CAD positions are now at their highest position since September 6th when long contracts equaled 2,081.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions dipped slightly after increasing for six consecutive weeks. Australian dollar positions decreased to a total net amount of 75,095 long contracts on February 7th after totaling 78,044 net long contracts reported as of January 31st. The AUD speculative positions were at their highest level on January 31st since July 26th when Australian dollar long positions totaled 81,438.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions surged higher and advanced for a seventh consecutive week through February 7th. NZD contracts increased to a total of 23,335 net long contracts as of February 7th following a total of 14,797 net long contracts on January 31st. NZD positions have now risen for seven straight weeks from the December 20th low standing and to the highest level since August 2nd when net long contracts equaled 24,126.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts improved for a fifth consecutive week and rose to the best position since August 9th against the US dollar. Peso long positions numbered a total of 34,107 net long speculative positions as of February 7th following a total of 21,481 long contracts that were reported on January 31st. Peso contracts crossed over into a positive long position on January 24th for the first time since September 6th and now has been on the long side for three consecutive weeks.
COT Currency Data Summary as of February 7, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -140593
GBP -33122
JPY +55171
CHF -9795
CAD +2184
AUD +75095
NZD +23335
MXN +34107
Other COT Trading Resources:
Trading Forex Using the COT Report
