Large Currency Speculators Cut Their USD Bullish Bets For 6th Week

US Dollar net speculator positions fell last week to +$32.25 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 decreased their overall net bullish positions for the US dollar last week for a sixth consecutive week and to the lowest level since September 2014.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $32.25 billion as of Tuesday May 5th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of -$2.50 billion from the $34.75 billion total long position that was registered on April 28th, 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 September 16th when net positions equaled $31.42 billion.

Weekly Speculator Contract Changes:

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

Notable Changes:

• The euro bets rose for a 2nd week by +7,639 contracts to improve to the best level since March

• British pound positions gained by +9,370 contracts to land at the best level since February

• Japanese yen bets dropped after gaining for the previous 3 weeks and fell back to a bearish position of over -30,000 contracts

• Swiss franc bets gained for a 4th week to raise its bullish position to +5,331 contracts

• Canadian dollar bets rose for a 3rd week to level at a bearish position of -10,080 contracts. This is the lowest bearish position since October

• Australian dollar bets rose sharply last week to a small bullish position (+626 contracts) for the first bullish position since September 2014

• New Zealand dollar positions slightly declined after seven weeks of rises that moved the NZD into bullish territory

• Mexican peso bets declined for a 3rd week and dropped further into bearish territory after one week in bullish territory on April 14th

This latest COT data is through Tuesday May 5th 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.