 as of December 20th, 2016 - EconoTimes)
CFTC commitment of traders report was released on Friday (23rd December) and cover positions up to Tuesday (20th December). COT report is not a complete presenter of entire market positions since the future market is relatively smaller compared to Spot FX market. Nevertheless, it presents crucial picture on how key participants are looking at future moves.
Key highlights:
Market participants are net short in all currencies against the dollar, except for the Australian dollar and the Swiss franc.
Shorts increased:
- The Japanese yen registered the biggest increase in net short positions among its peers last week. The net-short positions increased by 12,020 contracts to -63.4K contracts.
- The net short positions in Mexican peso rose by 9,022 contracts to -66.7K contracts.
- The net short position in the New Zealand dollar rose by 3,251 contracts to -6.9K contracts.
Shorts decreased:
- The British pound saw the biggest decrease in the net-short positions, where net-shorts decreased by 12,993 contracts -59.3K contracts.
- The net short position in the euro sterling declined by 9,468 contracts to -78K contracts.
- The net shorts in the Canadian dollar got covered by 10,115 contracts to -11.8K contracts.
Longs decreased:
- The Australian dollar registered the only long covering among peers, where long positions declined by 9,532 contracts to +3.9K contracts.
Net position shifted from short to long:
- The net short positions in Swiss franc shifted from short to long as traders increased net long positions by 32,398 contracts, pushing the net position to +7.1K contracts.
