Forex positioning and data in the futures market for the close of trading on Tuesday, September 27, 2016
The following are the net speculative positions in the major currencies as of the close of business on Tuesday, September 20, 2016.
- EUR 76K short versus 85K short last week Shorts are pared by 9K
- GBP 88K short versus 59K short last week. Shorts increase by 29K
- JPY 69K long versus 59K long last week. Longs increase by 10K.
- CHF -6K short versus 8K long last week. Shorts increase by 14K
- CAD 12K short versus 16K long last week. Short increase by 28K
- AUD 15K long vs 7K long last week. Longs increased by 8K.
- NZD 7K short vs 8k short last week. Shorts are pared by 1K
The big changes include the GBP which reestablished 29K new shorts. Last week shorts were pared by 24K.
Also, the CAD position switched from long 16K to short 12K. That was a swing of +28K on the week.
The weekly commitment of traders report outlines the speculative positions for each currency as of the close of business on Tuesday of the reporting week. As such, it is a snapshot of the past, not the present.
Traders like to use the net speculative positions to gauge interest, or perhaps even oversold or overbought market conditions.
For example if the positions are at a record short, the speculators are confident about the position. However. given a catalyst that might lead to the currency moving in the opposite direction of the position, the momentum could lead to a snap back move on the back of covering.
