US Dollar Net Speculator Positions Pushed Up Last Week To +$34.15 Billion

Net speculator positions pushed up last week to +$34.15 billion

The latest data for the weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) report, released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, showed that large traders and currency speculators increased their overall net bullish positions higher in the US dollar last week for a second straight week after registering declines in the previous eight weeks.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $34.15 billion as of Tuesday June 2nd, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of +$4.21 billion from the $29.94 billion total long position that was registered on May 26th, according to the Reuters calculation 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 latest data brings the US dollar speculative level to the highest level since April 28th when net positions equaled $34.75 billion.

Weekly Speculator Contract Changes:

Weekly changes for the major currencies showed that large speculators increased their bets in favor of the euro and the Swiss franc while decreasing weekly bets for the British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Mexican Peso.

Notable Changes:

• The euro bets rose by over +6,000 contracts last week to gain for the past five out of six weeks
• British pound sterling bets dipped very slightly last week to fall for a 2nd week and remain bearish at just over -25,000 contracts
• Japanese yen bets fell sharply for a second week and now net bearish bets are back over the -85,000 threshold
• Swiss franc bets were virtually unchanged (+29 contracts on the week) and continue to be in a bullish position of over +8,000 contracts
• Canadian dollar bets fell last week by -8,358 contracts after rising higher for the previous six straight weeks. CAD bets have now fallen back into a small bearish position
• Australian dollar bets dropped for a second week and declined back into a bearish overall position (-13,256 contracts)
• New Zealand dollar positions decreased for a fifth week and NZD positions dropped further into bearish territory (-10,539 contracts)
• Mexican Peso bets declined for a 3rd week last week and bearish net positions expanded further into bearish territory by over -45,000 contracts

This latest COT data is through Tuesday June 2nd and shows a quick view of how large speculators and for-profit traders (non-commercials) were positioned in the futures markets. 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 the individual currency charts and their respective data points 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.

All information contained in this article cannot be guaranteed to be accurate and is used at your own risk. All information and opinions on this website are for general informational purposes only and do not in any way constitute investment advice.

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Courtesy of CountingPips.com – Forex Apps & News