By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Monday instead of the usual Friday release (due to a holiday), by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators reduced their overall US dollar long positions last week while traders decreased their number of short bets against the euro currency.
Non-commercial futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, decreased their total US dollar long positions to $23.58 billion on July 3rd from a total long position of $26.73 billion on June 26th, 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 speculator sentiment for the euro improved last week after decreasing the previous week. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency fell to 146,177 contracts on July 3rd from the previous week’s total of 159,880 net short contracts on June 26th.
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 decreased last week after improving for two consecutive weeks. British pound positions fell slightly further on the short side to a total of 5,353 net short contracts on July 3rd following a total of 758 net short contracts the previous week.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts declined for a second consecutive week. Yen positions edged lower to a total of 4,542 net long contracts reported on July 3rd following a total of 4,542 net long contracts on June 26th. Japanese positions have now continued to be positive on the long side for a fifth consecutive week after crossing over on June 5th.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions increased following a sharp decrease the previous week. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 19,060 net short contracts on July 3rd following a total of 23,836 net short contracts as of June 26th.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions edged lower after rebounding slightly the previous week (that followed a decline for seven consecutive weeks). Canadian dollar positions edged lower to a total of 8,690 net long contracts as of July 3rd following a total of 9,277 long contracts that were reported for June 26th.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions improved for a fourth consecutive week to crossover into positive territory for the first time since May 15th. Aussie positions improved to a total net amount of 9,348 net long contracts on July 3rd after rising to 2,159 net short contracts as of June 26th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions improved for a fourth consecutive week and continued higher on the long side. NZD contracts increased to a total of 4,320 net long contracts as of July 3rd following a total of 576 net long contracts on June 26th. The kiwi contracts are now at their highest level since May 8th when contracts equaled 6,224.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts increased for a fourth straight week and crossed over into positive territory. Peso positions rose to a total of 17,475 net long speculative positions as of July 3rd following a total of 7,647 short contracts that were reported for June 26th. Mexican peso contracts on June 5th were at their lowest level since November 28th 2011 when positions equaled 36,240 short contracts and lately have made a turnaround higher.
COT Currency Data Summary as of July 3, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -146177
GBP -5353
JPY +4175
CHF -19060
CAD +8698
AUD +9348
NZD +4320
MXN +17475
