Latest Commitment of Traders positions (FX) as of January 17th 2017

CFTC commitment of traders report was released on Friday (20th January) and cover positions up to Tuesday (17th January). 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 increased:

• The Mexican peso registered the biggest increase in net short positions among its peers last week. The net-short positions increased by 1,545 contracts to -73.3K contracts.
• The net short positions in the euro got increased by 677 contracts to -66.5K contracts.
• The net short positions in the British pound got increased by 411 contracts to -66.2K contracts.

Shorts decreased:

• The Canadian dollar saw the biggest decrease in the net-short positions, where net-shorts decreased by 2,479 contracts -5.5K contracts.
• The net short position in the Japanese yen declined by 2,009 contracts to -77.8K contracts.
• Speculators recued their net shorts by 1,672 contracts in the New Zealand dollar; thus bringing the net position to -12.3K contracts.
• Swiss franc registered a marginal decrease in the net short positions last week. Shorts got reduced by 563 contracts that brought the net position to -13.7K contracts.

Position shifted from short to long:

• Speculators increased long positions in the Australian dollar in such a way that the net position turned long.  The Australian dollar’s short positions rose by 8,693 contracts to 4.8K contracts.