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 decreased their short positions against the US dollar and bet against the euro for a third straight week. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $13.02 billion against other major currencies as of May 24th. The data is a decline from the total short position of $20.01 billion on May 17th, 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 British pound sterling positions declining further on the short side while Australian dollar positions edged higher after declining for six straight weeks.
EuroFx: Currency speculators decreased their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar for a third consecutive week as of May 24th. Euro futures positions declined to a total of 19,129 long contracts following a total of 41,645 long positions on May 17th. Euro positions had marked the highest level since July 2007 on May 11th with 99,516.
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 positions edged lower for the fourth straight week as of May 24th and continued lower on the short side. Pound contracts fell to a total of 14,143 net short positions following a decline the week before to a total of 928 short contracts on May 17th. This marks the British pounds lowest speculative positions since September 2010 when short positions numbered 16,060.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts dipped lower after increasing for four consecutive weeks through May 17th. Yen positions decreased to a total of 8,006 net long contracts reported on May 24th following a total of 15,373 net long contracts on May 17th.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions edged lower for a third consecutive week. Franc positions fell to a total of 14,725 net long contracts following a net of 15,661 long contracts on May 17th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions declined lower for a fifth consecutive week to a total of 21,277 contracts as of May 24th. CAD net contracts had fallen to a total of 26,291 net long contracts on May 17th.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions reversed and edged higher after declining for the six straight weeks. AUD contracts increased to a total net amount of 53,043 long contracts as of May 24th. AUD positions had totaled 50,919 net long contracts on May 17th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions rose to the highest level since December after a decrease the previous week. NZD contracts advanced to a total of 13,876 long positions as of May 24th from a total of 12,624 long contracts on May 17th.
MXN: Mexican peso long contracts increased higher after falling for four straight weeks. MXN contracts rose to 108,681 net long contracts as of May 24th from a total of 104,912 long contracts as of May 17th.
COT Data Summary as of May 24, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR: +19,129
GBP: -14,143
JPY: +8,006
CHF: +14,725
CAD: +21,277
AUD: +53,043
NZD: +13,876
MXN: +108,681
