FX Futures Speculators Slightly Added To US Dollar Bullish Positions Last Week

US Dollar net speculator positions edged up last week to +$29.79 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 slightly edged their overall net bullish positions in the US dollar higher last week and bullish positions notched a weekly gain for a fourth straight week.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $29.79 billion as of Tuesday July 28th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of +$0.02 billion from the $29.77 billion total long position that was registered on July 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.

Last week’s data shows the US dollar speculative level remains at the highest level since June 9th when net positions stood at $34.70 billion.

Weekly Speculator Contract Changes

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

This latest COT data is through Tuesday July 28th and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) 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.

Weekly Charts: Large Trader Weekly Positions vs Price

EuroFX

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions

*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). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm ).

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).

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Courtesy of CountingPips.com