By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK – Speculators’ net long positioning on the U.S. dollar rose in the latest 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 climbed to $13.92 billion for the week ended April 26, from $12.91 billion the previous week. This week’s U.S. dollar net long positioning was the largest since early April, and the first increase in four weeks.
The dollar gained sharply in the month of April, surging nearly 5% for its largest monthly percentage gain since January 2015.
“There remain some rather surprising aspects of the data, however, which – at the very least – suggest that the U.S. dollar’s bull move may have further to run because it does not appear as if investors have fully participated in the dollar’s near 5% rally over the past month,” said Scotiabank in a report after the release of the CFTC data.
The greenback has benefited from safe-haven bids in the midst of the war in Ukraine, lifted as well by higher U.S. interest rates as the Federal Reserve embarks on an aggressive rate tightening cycle to stamp out inflation.
Data also showed euro net longs fell in the latest week to 22,201 contracts, which Scotiabank said was a surprise given the geopolitical and monetary policy risks in the euro zone. The single European currency dropped 4.7% for the month of April, its worst monthly performance since January 2015.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin futures posted their largest net long position since the contract was launched in 2018. For the week of April 26, net longs in bitcoin rose to 412 contracts, compared with net shorts of 194 in the previous week, CFTC data showed.
Bitcoin has stabilized within the $37,000-$40,000 range, with the Ukraine war, soaring inflation, and Fed rate hikes as backdrop. The world’s largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization has behaved more like a risk asset.
So far this year, bitcoin has fallen roughly 17% versus the dollar. It was last down 3.1% at $38,532.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
$9.387 billion
26 Apr 2022 Prior week
week
Long 14,269 12,723
Short 109,804 119,910
Net -95,535 -107,187
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
$-2.952 billion
26 Apr 2022 Prior week
week
Long 222,993 221,003
Short 200,792 189,702
Net 22,201 31,301
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
$5.47 billion
26 Apr 2022 Prior week
week
Long 40,436 36,811
Short 110,057 95,725
Net -69,621 -58,914
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
$1.671 billion
26 Apr 2022 Prior week
week
Long 4,455 2,900
Short 17,324 14,350
Net -12,869 -11,450
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
$-1.628 billion
26 Apr 2022 Prior week
week
Long 48,787 44,063
Short 27,906 22,837
Net 20,881 21,226
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
$1.969 billion
26 Apr 2022 Prior week
week
Long 47,105 39,201
Short 74,756 68,038
Net -27,651 -28,837
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
$-0.493 billion
26 Apr 2022 Prior week
week
Long 67,389 73,710
Short 47,263 52,046
Net 20,126 21,664
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)
$-0.004 billion
26 Apr 2022 Prior week
week
Long 22,085 19,081
Short 22,019 18,716
Net 66 365
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
