These are the highlights of the CFTC Positioning Report for the week ending April 8, the week following President Trump’s “Liberation Day”.
Speculative net longs on the Japanese Yen (JPY) advanced to multi-year tops just above 147K contracts, while commercial traders also ramped up their net shorts to fresh highs near 162K contracts, all amid open interest rising to four-week highs. During the period following the announcement of reciprocal tariffs by the White House, USD/JPY traded in a bearish fashion, with gains limited around the 148.00 region.
Meanwhile, non-commercial net longs in the Euro (EUR) advanced to two-week highs near 60K contracts. Hedge-funds and other commercial players, on the flip side, added to their net short positions, taking them to two-week peaks near 90.5K contracts. Open interest during the period rose to multi-week tops, nearly 700K contracts. EUR/USD has embarked on a bullish bias despite the demand for the safe-haven space, reaching new highs around 1.1150 exclusively in response to the increasing downward trend in the US Dollar (USD).
For the British pound (GBP), speculators remained net long although they trimmed their exposure to around 17.3K contracts, the lowest level since late February. GBP/USD corrected from fresh peaks just past 1.3200 the figure on April 3, revisiting the vicinity of the 1.2700 zone, where a decent contention seems to have emerged.
Speculative net longs in the Australian Dollar (AUD) decreased to four-week lows around 63.3K contracts amid an equally multi-week peaks in open interest. AUD/USD saw its downward trend gather rapid pace, flirting with the 0.5900 zone for the first time since Q1 2020.
