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 increased their short positions of the US dollar against the other major currencies while continuing to raise bets against the Japanese yen. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $27.75 billion against other major currencies as of April 26th. The data is a rise from the total short position of $24.36 billion on April 19th, 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.
This week’s notable changes were euro positions increasing to the highest level since December 2007 while yen positions rebounded slightly after two straight weeks of being short by over 50,000 contracts.
EuroFx: Currency speculators increased their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar after a slight dip last week to their highest level since December 2007. Futures positions in the euro rose to a net total of 68,279 long positions as of April 26th following a total of 62,195 long positions on April 19th.
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. 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 positoins increased for a second straight week as of April 26th to a total of 33,583 net long positions after rising the week before to a total of 30,175 long contracts on April 19th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts improved to a total of 36,997 net short contracts reported on April 26th. This is from 52,983 short contracts on April 19th which marked the lowest level in yen positions in almost a year.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions moved higher for third straight week to a total of 17,841 net long contracts following a net of 17,374 long contracts on April 19th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions moved lower to a total of 59,063 contracts as of April 26th after CAD net contracts had risen to a total of 65,035 net long contracts on April 19th.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions declined for the third straight week to a total net amount of 80,867 long contracts as of April 26th. AUD positions had totaled 84,961 net long contracts on April 19th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions increased higher for a sixth consecutive week. NZD contracts increased to a total of 11,457 long positions as of April 26th from a total of 9,339 long contracts on April 19th.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts dipped from a recent high to a total of 131,806 net long contracts on April 26th. MXN positions had increased the week before to the highest level in at least a year with a total of 134,129 long contracts as of April 19th.
COT Data Summary as of April 26, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR: +68,279
GBP: +33,583
JPY: -36,997
CHF: +17,841
CAD: +59,063
AUD: +80,867
NZD: +11,457
MXN: +131,806
Further COT Resources from around the web:
