By CountingPips.com
The latest COT data out on Friday showed that futures speculators have increased their long bets for the U.S. dollar against the euro as of June 22nd, according to the Commitments of Traders (COT) data released by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were net short the euro against 
the U.S. dollar by -70,974 contracts after being net short the euro by -62,360 contracts the week before on June 15th. The net short euro positions follows a sharp decline on the June 15th report to -62,360 from a total of -111,945 on June 8th.
The COT report is published every Friday by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) 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 expecting that currency to fall against the dollar and net longs expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.
Other major currencies net short in the CME futures market against the dollar as of June 22nd were the British pound and the Swiss franc while the Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and Mexican peso all had a net long amount of contracts against the dollar.
The British Pound Sterling net shorts decreased to 46,346 from a total of 48,134 that were reported net short on June 15th while the Swiss franc positions were net short 10,265 contracts after 16,476 net shorts the week before.
The New Zealand dollar futures positions rose over to the long side with 822 long contracts after being net short -2,129 contracts on June 15th. The Japanese yen also turned net long in totals positions with 3,630 long contracts on June 22nd compared with -3680 net short contracts on June 15th as investors have trimmed their yen short positions substantially from being short by 65,612 contracts on May 4th.
The Australian dollar futures positions were net long by 11,806 contracts as of June 22nd, edging lower after totaling net 12,406 long contracts on June 15th and down from a total of 80,674 longs on April 13th.
The Canadian dollar long positions were net by 26,353 contracts and almost unchanged after 27,354 net longs the week before while the Mexican peso long contracts moved higher for a second week to 35,639 longs from 28,297 longs the prior week.
COT Data Summary (vs. the US Dollar)
Euro net shorts at 70,974 contracts from 62,360
British Pound net shorts at 46,346 from 48,134 short, decrease for 2nd straight week
Swiss Franc net shorts at 10,265 from 16,476
Canadian Dollar net longs at 26,353 from 27,354
Australian Dollar net longs at 11,806 from 12,406
New Zealand Dollar net longs at 822 from shorts of -2,129
Mexican Peso net longs at 35,639 from 28,297, 2 week increase
Japanese Yen net longs at 3,630 from -3680 shorts
