Speculators reduced bullish bets on the US dollar in the last week, according to Reuters calculations and data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position fell to $32.26 billion in the week ended August 18, from $37.19 billion the previous week. This was the first time in six weeks that the net US dollar longs declined. That said, this was the third straight week that net dollar longs came in above $30 billion.
To be long a currency is to make a bet it will rise, while being short is a bet its value will decline. Net euro short contracts, meanwhile, fell to 92,732 in the latest week, from 115,210 contracts the previous week. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars.