Large Currency Speculators Reduced US Dollar Bullish Bets For 5th Week

US Dollar net speculator positions dropped last week to +$34.75 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 continued to cut back on their overall net bullish positions for the US dollar last week for a fifth straight week.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $34.75 billion as of Tuesday April 28th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of -$3.12 billion from the $37.87 billion total long position that was registered on April 21st, 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 puts the US dollar speculative level at a new lowest level since December 16th when net positions equaled $34.64 billion.

Weekly Changes:

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

Notable Changes:

• The euro bets gained sharply by 16,879 contracts to under -200,000 net contracts for the first time since March

• Japanese yen bets improved for a third week and holds only a small bearish position (-5,493 contracts)

• Swiss franc bets improved slightly for a 3rd week to raise its small bullish position to +1,335 contracts

• New Zealand dollar positions gained for a seventh week and rose higher into bullish territory (+10,180 contracts)

• Mexican peso bets declined for a 2nd week and fell further into bearish territory after one week in bullish territory on April 14th

This latest COT data is through Tuesday April 28th 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 euro FX futures

Date	Open Interest	Specs Long	Specs Short	Pct OI Specs Long	Pct OI Specs Short	Net Specs	Weekly Chg
03/24/2015	460950	50148	271111	10.9	58.8	-220963	-27189
03/31/2015	459746	41709	268269	9.1	58.4	-226560	-5597
04/07/2015	441624	39444	254702	8.9	57.7	-215258	11302
04/14/2015	453518	45264	257611	10	56.8	-212347	2911
04/21/2015	457610	46821	261466	10.2	57.1	-214645	-2298
04/28/2015	456919	50734	248500	11.1	54.4	-197766	16879

British pound sterling:

Last Six Weeks data for pound sterling futures

Date	Open Interest	Specs Long	Specs Short	Pct OI Specs Long	Pct OI Specs Short	Net Specs	Weekly Chg
03/24/2015	178140	35938	74495	20.2	41.8	-38557	-706
03/31/2015	182514	35143	71773	19.3	39.3	-36630	1927
04/07/2015	185219	37641	71942	20.3	38.8	-34301	2329
04/14/2015	189513	33993	70038	17.9	37	-36045	-1744
04/21/2015	175066	34830	64111	19.9	36.6	-29281	6764
04/28/2015	171698	33239	67367	19.4	39.2	-34128	-4847

Japanese yen:

Last Six Weeks data for yen Futures

Date	Open Interest	Specs Long	Specs Short	Pct OI Specs Long	Pct OI Specs Short	Net Specs	Weekly Chg
03/24/2015	181026	39156	85061	21.6	47	-45905	2149
03/31/2015	177478	44409	68333	25	38.5	-23924	21981
04/07/2015	189444	53320	77769	28.1	41.1	-24449	-525
04/14/2015	195230	54783	77853	28.1	39.9	-23070	1379
04/21/2015	189332	51520	65968	27.2	34.8	-14448	8622
04/28/2015	188079	48721	54214	25.9	28.8	-5493	8955

Swiss franc:

Last Six Weeks data for franc futures

Date	Open Interest	Specs Long	Specs Short	Pct OI Specs Long	Pct OI Specs Short	Net Specs	Weekly Chg
03/24/2015	36296	12604	16559	34.7	45.6	-3955	-6190
03/31/2015	34149	13679	12973	40.1	38	706	4661
04/07/2015	33245	12746	12626	38.3	38	120	-586
04/14/2015	33935	12240	12070	36.1	35.6	170	50
04/21/2015	31727	11105	10770	35	33.9	335	165
04/28/2015	31585	11144	9809	35.3	31.1	1335	1000

Canadian dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for Canadian dollar futures

Date	Open Interest	Specs Long	Specs Short	Pct OI Specs Long	Pct OI Specs Short	Net Specs	Weekly Chg
03/24/2015	106731	19193	51849	18	48.6	-32656	166
03/31/2015	110447	18771	48389	17	43.8	-29618	3038
04/07/2015	114881	22081	52100	19.2	45.4	-30019	-401
04/14/2015	118686	23020	53598	19.4	45.2	-30578	-559
04/21/2015	126801	33343	60394	26.3	47.6	-27051	3527
04/28/2015	128938	33858	54767	26.3	42.5	-20909	6142

Australian dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for Australian dollar futures

Date	Open Interest	Specs Long	Specs Short	Pct OI Specs Long	Pct OI Specs Short	Net Specs	Weekly Chg
03/24/2015	135693	52079	80447	38.4	59.3	-28368	439
03/31/2015	138260	55814	80170	40.4	58	-24356	4012
04/07/2015	159532	55928	96209	35.1	60.3	-40281	-15925
04/14/2015	161971	55077	97510	34	60.2	-42433	-2152
04/21/2015	153363	55570	90233	36.2	58.8	-34663	7770
04/28/2015	140298	53753	81158	38.3	57.8	-27405	7258

New Zealand dollar:

Last Six Weeks data for New Zealand dollar futures

Date	Open Interest	Specs Long	Specs Short	Pct OI Specs Long	Pct OI Specs Short	Net Specs	Weekly Chg
03/24/2015	20958	12149	13015	58	62.1	-866	275
03/31/2015	24049	16443	12412	68.4	51.6	4031	4897
04/07/2015	24920	16950	11172	68	44.8	5778	1747
04/14/2015	25176	17081	11078	67.8	44	6003	225
04/21/2015	26617	18473	9985	69.4	37.5	8488	2485
04/28/2015	28071	18281	8101	65.1	28.9	10180	1692

Mexican peso:

Last Six Weeks data for Mexican peso futures

Date	Open Interest	Specs Long	Specs Short	Pct OI Specs Long	Pct OI Specs Short	Net Specs	Weekly Chg
03/24/2015	150320	35044	76144	23.3	50.7	-41100	14839
03/31/2015	157688	43289	73578	27.5	46.7	-30289	10811
04/07/2015	151072	42185	65110	27.9	43.1	-22925	7364
04/14/2015	130501	63521	55160	48.7	42.3	8361	31286
04/21/2015	118074	50343	64018	42.6	54.2	-13675	-22036
04/28/2015	138497	38003	61394	27.4	44.3	-23391	-9716

*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.