Specs Extend USD Long Position as Sept Futures Contracts Expire

There was heavy contract liquidation in the September futures contracts, and in the liquidation period the specs added to the long USD position. They have taken the total long position up to 423,924 contracts, the biggest long position since July 16th of 2013. The largest USD long and spec short remains in the euro, 195K, and the yen, 134K. There was also a big increase in the USD long position in the DI, which is probably related to the expiration of the September contracts.

All of the commodity currencies lost their strength against the USD, as the buying in the USD over whelmed the Canadian, New Zealand and Australian Dollar. In the NZD and the CAD, specs flipped to the short side. Their biggest long position had been in the AUD, and this was reduced from almost 40K contracts to 7.9K. The combined spec long position in the commodity currencies is down to 3K, from a high of over 91k at the end of July 2014.

The currency with the largest amount of liquidation has been the British pound The fevored trade in the pound has taken the OI to over 300K. On a weekly basis that made the trade in the pound bigger than that in the yen. No longer is this the case as the remaining OI in the pound is about 186K contracts and the yen OI was about 250K. Specs are now small shorts in the pound. With the uncertainty of the Scottish election over, good fundamental economic news in the UK could turn the pound higher, it would seem.

– US Dollar Index: There was a large increase in the spec long position of the DI as the total went from 40K to 61K. Since there was only a small increase in the OI, this probably means it was adjustments during the close of trading in the Sept contract and probably not too meaningful. The activity was entirely in the large spec positions, where the position short position was reduced. This would suggest the large specs were short the DI and long the components of the Index, and covered the positions at expiration. – Euro (EUR/USD): There was big, big liquidation of the OI in the euro which took the spec short position down to 195K from 211.7K last week. Total liquidation was 87.7 of which the spreading/option category amounted to 39K. There was also heavy liquidation on both sides of the commercial positions. This means there has been a heavy trade in covered options. Large specs are not a 2.8 ratio short and the small specs are a 2.4 short.

– British Pound Sterling (GBP/USD): The absolute amount of liquidation in the pound was 121.2K, far exceeding the total liquidated in the euro, 87.7K where there is a much larger OI. The large spec is still keeping a token long, while the small spec has continued to sell. This means the total net spec position in the pound is now short, but only 6.1K

– Japanese Yen (JPY/USD): Last week the OI in the pound was about 12K larger than that in the yen. In the yen however there was not the massive spec selling. Large specs remain a 3.2 ratio short , while the small spec is a 4.3-to-1 short. The total yen short is now 133.9K.

– Swiss Franc (CHF/USD): The SF continues to move with the euro. Specs are short 30/8K down a small number from last week. Small specs are a 3.9 ratio short.

– Canadian Dollar (CAD/USD): Small specs flipped to the short side of the C$ last week and added to that position in the most recent period. While large specs remain a token long, the enthusiasm of the smalls have taken the total net position to short 4.8K. With the option OI 8.8% of the total, there may be more Sept contract liquidation to come.

– New Zealand Dollar (NZD/USD): There was heavy liquidation in the kiwi taking the total OI down to a mere 16K. Large specs shedd their longs as the market tumbled. Small specs are not short, and the combined total spec position is a mere 39 contracts short.

– Australian Dollar (AUD/USD): The spec selling in the A$ was decisive. The small specs flipped to the short side and ended the period almost 12K short. Large specs were heavy sellers in the A$, remain long, but reduced their holding by about 20K. They remained long 20K, but we suspect sever market weakness since has taken them out of their long. The combined A$ spec position remained long 7.9K.

Currency Commitments of Traders with Delta-adjusted Options and Futures Combined, data through September 16, 2014.