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 overall US dollar short positions last week while cutting down on euro short positions to bring euro contracts to their best level since November 2011.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, increased their total US dollar short position to a total of $10.05 billion on September 18th from a total short position of $6.18 billion on September 11th, 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 increased last week for a second straight week and brought euro positions to their best level since November 2011. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency fell to 73,482 contracts on September 18th from the previous week’s total of 93,658 net short contracts on September 11th. This is the 2nd week that short contracts have been under 100,000 since April 2nd when positions totaled 79,480 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, 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.)
GBP: British pound sterling positions surged higher last week after improving slightly the week before. British pound sterling speculative positions totaled 14,412 net long contracts on September 18th following a total of 4,366 net short contracts on September 11th. British pound positions are now on the positive side and at their best level since May 15th.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts fell after increasing for three consecutive weeks and bringing yen positions to the highest level since February. Japanese yen positions declined to a total of 15,476 net long contracts reported on September 18th following a total of 32,773 net long contracts on September 11th.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions rose for a second straight week and improved to the best position since December 2011. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 4,527 net short contracts on September 18th following a total of 8,967 net short contracts as of September 11th. Franc contracts are now at their best level since December 19th 2011 when positions reached 3,136 short contracts.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions continued to rise higher for an eighth consecutive week and surged to the best level since at least before 2010. Canadian dollar positions increased to a total of 111,881 net long contracts as of September 18th following a total of 101,860 net short contracts that were reported for September 11th. The Canadian currency positions have recently easily passed the previous highest levels of 2012 that was recorded on May 1st when long positions equaled 70,223 contracts.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions rose slightly last week to increase for two consecutive weeks. Aussie speculative futures positions increased to a total net amount of 69,246 long contracts on September 18th after totaling 68,259 net long contracts as of September 11th. Australian dollar are just below their most recent high level that was on August 21st when long positions equaled 86,882.
NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions increased after declining for three consecutive weeks. NZD contracts rose to a total of 16,605 net long contracts as of September 18th following a total of 10,032 net long contracts on September 11th.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts dipped slightly last week after surging to a new yearly high the previous week. Peso positions decreased to a total of 118,147 net long speculative positions as of September 18th following a total of 122,243 long contracts that were reported for September 11th.
