? EUR/USD - Speculative longs up by 17 percent
? GBP/USD Sterling sentiment grows less extreme
? USD/JPY Positioning Close to Parity
? USD/CHF 84 percent of Open Positions is long
? USD/CAD Sentiment Remains Dollar Bullish
Historical Charts of Speculative Positioning
EURUSD - Speculative positioning flipped to net short in October and has remained negative since then. The long standing bearish sentiment coincided with a 597 pips appreciation in the currency pair which confirms the precision of the SSI as a contrarian indicator. Today, the ratio of longs to shorts is -1.76 as 63.8% of the currently open orders are short. Long orders are 5.7% higher than yesterday and 17.4% stronger since last week. Short orders are 6% higher than yesterday and 10.3% weaker since last week. Open interest is 5.9% stronger than yesterday and 3.8% above its monthly average. Looking ahead, the SSI continues to favor EURUSD strength.
GBPUSD - Sterling positioning has remained net short since October, coinciding with a substantial appreciation in the currency pair. Today, the ratio of longs to shorts is -2.51 as 71.5% of the currently open orders are short. Long orders are 21.1% higher than yesterday and 19% stronger since last week. Short orders are 2.6% higher than yesterday and 7.8% weaker since last week. Open interest is 7.3% stronger than yesterday and 0.1% below its monthly average. Looking ahead, the SSI signals GBPUSD strength.
USDCHF - The ratio of longs to shorts is 5.55 as 84.7% of the currently open orders are long. Long orders are 4.5% higher than yesterday and 4.6% weaker since last week. Short orders are 2.6% higher than yesterday and 34.6% weaker since last week. Open interest is 4.2% stronger than yesterday and 0.1% above its monthly average. Looking ahead, the Swiss ratio confirms the EUR/USD SSI signal and favors USDCHF weakness.
USDJPY Positioning in the yen flipped to net long in November coinciding with 300 pips depreciation in the value of the USD/JPY. Today, the ratio of longs to shorts is 1.36 as 57.6% of the currently open orders are long. Long orders are 3.1% higher than yesterday and 12.6% stronger since last week. Short orders are 5.3% lower than yesterday and 13.6% stronger since last week. Open interest is 0.6% weaker than yesterday and 23.1% above its monthly average. Looking ahead, the SSI signals USDJPY weakness.
USDCAD - The ratio of longs to shorts in the loonie is 1.42 as 58.7% of the currently open orders are long. Speculative positioning has remained net long for most of the last two years but has been growing less extreme in the past month. Today, long orders are 1.1% higher than yesterday and 1.3% stronger since last week. Short orders are 1.1% higher than yesterday and 35.8% stronger since last week. Open interest is 1.1% stronger than yesterday and 2.7% above its monthly average. Looking ahead, the SSI signals USDCAD weakness.
How to Interpret the SSI
The FXCM SSI is based on proprietary customer flow information and is designed to recognize price trend breaks and reversals in the four most popularly traded currency pairs. The absolute number of the ratio itself represents the amount by which longs exceed shorts or vice versa. For example if the EURUSD ratio is 2.55, long customer orders exceed short orders by a ratio of 2.55 to 1. If the EURUSD ratio is -3.00 short customer orders in the EURUSD exceed long orders by a ratio of 3 to 1. A negative number indicates that traders are net short while a positive number indicates that traders are net long. Conceptually similar to contrarian analyses using the CFTC IMM open position data or COT Report, the SSI provides an alternative approach that is both more timely and accurate in forecasting currency price movement. The SSI is a contrarian indicator that tells you how the market is weighted and where the trend may head. More long positions don't necessary suggest more confidence in the direction of the current trend. In general, when traders start having adverse movements against their position, many tend to increase the size of their position with the purpose to average down their entry price in one last attempt to recover from previous losses. However, higher the number of short orders in a bull market more dangerous is to take additional shorts because many of those traders who just entered the markets are also leaving their protective stop losses just above the current price action.
