FX Speculators Cut U.S. Dollar Positions To Lowest In Over A Year

Weekly Large Trader COT Report: Currencies

US Dollar net speculator positions fell last week to +$20.97 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 cut back on their overall net bullish positions in the US dollar last week to the lowest level in over a year.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $20.97 billion as of Tuesday September 15th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly change of -$1.10 billion from the $22.07 billion total long position that was registered on September 15th, 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 the lowest level since July 29th of 2014 when net positions stood at $20.24 billion. The speculative bets for the US dollar have now fallen four out of the last five weeks.

Weekly Speculator Contract Changes:

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

This latest COT data is through Tuesday September 15th 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

British Pound Sterling:

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions

Japanese Yen:

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions

Swiss Franc:

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions

Canadian Dollar:

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions

Australian Dollar:

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions

New Zealand Dollar:

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions

Mexican Peso:

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).

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