Large Currency Traders edged speculative US Dollar bets lower last week

By CountingPips.com

The latest data for the weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) report, released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, showed that large trader and speculator bets for the US dollar edged slightly lower through July 15th.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $9.94 billion as of Tuesday July 15th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of -$0.40 billion from the $10.34 billion total long position that was registered on July 8th, according to the calculation by Reuters that totals the US dollar contracts against the combined contracts of the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

The aggregate US dollar position has declined for four out of the last five weeks although the the overall dollar standing has now remained on the bullish side for ten straight weeks after turning bullish on May 13th.

Major Currency Weekly Levels & Changes:

Overall changes on the week for the major currencies showed that large speculators bet in favor of the Japanese yen, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Mexican peso while there were weekly decreases for just the euro and the British pound sterling.

This latest COT data is through Tuesday July 15th and provides a glimpse of how large speculators and for-profit traders (non-commercials) were positioned in the futures markets. All currency positions are in direct relation to the US dollar where, for example, a bet for the euro is a bet that the euro will rise versus the dollar while a bet against the euro will be a bet that the dollar will gain versus the euro.

Notable changes on the week for the Major Currencies:

• Canadian dollar positions improved for a fifth straight week and to the highest level since February 2013

• Euro positions decreased last week and pushed euro positions to their lowest level (or most bearish) since May 2013. Euro bets are almost at the same bearish level vs the USD as the Japanese yen.
  

• British pound sterling positions slipped for second consecutive week to the lowest level since June 10th

• Japanese yen positions edged higher last week after a decline the previous week. Overall speculator positions and the USDJPY exchange rate have seen subdued movements recently

• Australian dollar net positions pushed higher last week with bullish positions totaling almost +40,000 contracts (highest since April 2013)

• New Zealand dollar positions rose for a fourth straight week as the overall bullish positions surpassed +15,000 contracts for the first time since June 10th

Please see individual currency charts and more data below.

EuroFX:

Last Six Weeks data for EuroFX futures

British Pound Sterling:

Last Six Weeks data for Pound Sterling futures

Japanese Yen:

Last Six Weeks data for Yen Futures

Swiss Franc:

Last Six Weeks data for Franc futures

Canadian Dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for Canadian dollar futures

Australian Dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for Australian dollar futures

New Zealand Dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for New Zealand dollar futures

Mexican Peso:

Last Six Weeks data for Mexican Peso futures

*COT Report: The weekly commitment of traders report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators).

The Commitment of Traders report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions data that was reported as of the previous Tuesday (3 days behind).

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.)

See more information and explanation on the weekly COT report from the CFTC website.

Article by CountingPips.com – Forex Apps & News