Latest Commitment of Traders positions (FX) as March 21st 2017

CFTC commitment of traders report was released on Friday (24th March) and cover positions up to Tuesday (21st March). 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 the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar.

Shorts decreased:

• The euro saw the biggest decrease in the net-short positions, where net-shorts decreased by 21,365 contracts to -19.7K contracts. Shorts decreased for second consecutive week.
• The Japanese yen shorts got covered in the tune of 4,310 contracts that pushed the net position to -67K contracts.
• The Mexican peso shorts declined for fifth consecutive week and by 2,186 contracts that brought the net position to -3.3K contracts.

Shorts increased:

• The New Zealand dollar registered the biggest increase in short positions among its peers as the short positions got raised by 7,005 contracts to -12.6K contracts. Shorts increased for third consecutive week.
• Swiss franc shorts got increased by 2,982 contracts which pushed the net position to -12K contracts.
• British pound shorts got increased by 727 contracts that pushed the net position to -107.8K contracts. Shorts increased for seventh consecutive week.

Longs increased:

• The Australian dollar is the only counter where longs were increased and by 1,690 contracts last week that pushed the net position to +44.9K contracts.

Position shifted from long to short:

• Shorts were increased in such a fashion that the net position in Canadian dollar shifted from long to short.  Shorts increased by 45,861 contracts that pushed the net position to -24.4K contracts.