Latest Commitment of Traders positions (FX) as at April 18th 2017

CFTC commitment of traders report was released on Friday (21st April) and cover positions up to Tuesday (18th April). 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.

Shorts decreased:

• The short positions in the British sterling declined by 6,411 contracts last week and the current position stands at -99.5K contracts.
• The Japanese yen saw another big decrease in the net-short positions, where net-shorts decreased by 4,301 contracts to -30.5K contracts. Shorts decreased for the fifth consecutive week.
• The shorts in New Zealand dollar declined marginally by 147 contracts last week, which brought the net position to -15K contracts.

Shorts increased:

• The Swiss franc registered the biggest increase in the short positions among its peers as the short positions got increased by 3,674 contracts to -13.8K contracts.
• The euro shorts got increased by 2,693 contracts which pushed the net position to -21.6K contracts. Shorts increased for third consecutive week.
• The Canadian dollar shorts got increased by 918 contracts that pushed the net position to -33.2K contracts.

Long covered:

• The Australian dollar is the only counter where long positions were covered and by 1,889 contracts last week that pushed the net position to +43.3K contracts. Long positions got covered for a third consecutive week.

Position shifted from short to long:

• The long positions in Mexican peso increased in such a fashion that the net position shifted from short to the long. The net long positions increased by 26,919 contracts, which brought the net position to +14.2K contracts.