By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that futures speculators trimmed their short positions of the US dollar against the other major currencies while increasing their short bets of the euro. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $7.38 billion against other major currencies as of January 11th. This is a decline from the total short position of $12.4 billion on January 4th, according to the CFTC 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.
EuroFx: Currency speculators added to their short positions of the euro against the U.S. dollar to their highest level in over six months. Euro positions were short by 45,182 contracts from a total of 24,201 short positions registered on January 4th. The January 11th level was the largest short position in the euro since June 2010.
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.
GBP: Speculators decreased their British pound sterling short positions to a total of 5,090 short contracts on January 11th. The previous week had short positions of 14,133 contracts. Pound sterling contracts have continued to be short for seven straight weeks dating back to November 30th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net long contracts decreased after two straight weeks of increases as of January 11th with a total of 24,736 long contracts. Yen positions had totaled 39,065 net long contracts reported on January 4th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions edged lower after four straight weeks of rising long positions. Swiss franc positions fell to a total of 10,818 long contracts as of January 11th after totaling a net of 13,032 long contracts on January 4th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions increased for the third consecutive week as of January 11th. CAD long positions registered 47,757 contracts after totaling 38,340 net longs on January 4th. This is the highest level for Canadian dollar contracts since May 11th 2010.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions dipped for a second consecutive week. AUD contracts decreased to a net amount of 53,497 long contracts as of January 11th from 62,513 long contracts on January 4th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions dipped to a total of 9,620 long positions as of January 11th. NZD large speculator long positions had risen two straight weeks to a total of 10,731 long contracts on January 4th.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts rose higher as of January 11th to 83,572 net long positions after dipping to a total of 74,310 longs the week prior.
COT Data Summary as of January 11th, 2010
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EuroFx: -45182
British pound sterling: -5090
Japanese yen: +24736
Swiss franc: +10,818
Canadian dollar: +47,757
Australian dollar: +53497
New Zealand dollar: +9,620
Mexican peso: +83,572
Go to the Commitment of Traders CME raw futures data
Further COT Resources from around the web:
