By CountingPips.com

The latest data for the weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, showed that large traders and speculators slightly added to their US dollar bullish bets last week and raised bets in favor of the dollar for a second week.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $4.67 billion as of Tuesday May 20th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of +$0.16 billion from the $4.51 billion total long position that was registered on May 13th, according to 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 US dollar is on the net bullish side for a second straight week after spending four weeks in bearish territory. The aggregate USD position resides at the highest level since March 11th when total bullish contracts equaled +$10.56 billion.

Overall for the week against the other major currencies, speculators bet in favor of the British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Australian dollar and the Mexican peso last week while there were weekly declines for the euro, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and the New Zealand dollar.

Notable changes:

• Euro positions fell for a 2nd straight week to the lowest overall level since February

• British pound sterling positions rebounded slightly after four weeks of decline

• Yen positions continued to improve and marked their lowest bearish level of the year

• Australian dollar net long positions are at the highest level in over a year (April 30, 2013)

• Mexican peso positions have jumped to the highest levels since June 2013

* 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. Please see charts and data below.

Weekly Charts: Large Speculators Weekly Positions vs Currency Spot Price

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