NEW YORK (Reuters) – Speculators’ net long positioning on the U.S. dollar slipped, after hitting their highest level since late November in the previous week, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the net long dollar position drifted lower to $19.75 billion in the week ended May 17, from $19.82 billion the previous week.
The dollar has been underpinned overall in recent months by safe-haven bids amid soaring inflation, a hawkish Federal Reserve and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
That rally, however, fizzled this week due to increased volatility in global financial markets after the lofty levels the dollar had scaled in recent months.
Bitcoin futures, on the other hand, posted their largest net long position since the contract was launched in 2018.
For the week of May 17, net longs in bitcoin rose to 806 contracts, compared with net longs of 703 contracts the previous week, CFTC data showed.
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, last fell 3.6% to $29,203, not far from a December 2020 low of $25,400 it hit a few weeks ago.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
$9.884 billion
17 May 2022 Prior week
week
Long 12,113 11,196
Short 114,422 121,650
Net -102,309 -110,454
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
$-2.681 billion
17 May 2022 Prior week
week
Long 230,770 228,230
Short 210,431 211,701
Net 20,339 16,529
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
$6.186 billion
17 May 2022 Prior week
week
Long 26,613 29,469
Short 105,854 109,067
Net -79,241 -79,598
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
$2.088 billion
17 May 2022 Prior week
week
Long 5,240 4,727
Short 21,832 20,490
Net -16,592 -15,763
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
$1.132 billion
17 May 2022 Prior week
week
Long 36,069 38,679
Short 50,565 44,086
Net -14,496 -5,407
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
$3.138 billion
17 May 2022 Prior week
week
Long 41,473 36,869
Short 86,115 78,583
Net -44,642 -41,714
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
$-0.708 billion
17 May 2022 Prior week
week
Long 77,819 63,921
Short 49,604 47,196
Net 28,215 16,725
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)
$1.13 billion
17 May 2022 Prior week
week
Long 14,998 15,203
Short 32,765 28,199
Net -17,767 -12,996
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Ken Ferris)
