NEW YORK (Reuters) – Speculators’ net long positioning on the U.S. dollar slipped, after hitting their highest level since late November in the previous 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 drifted lower to $19.75 billion in the week ended May 17, from $19.82 billion the previous week.
The dollar has been underpinned overall in recent months by safe-haven bids amid soaring inflation, a hawkish Federal Reserve and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
That rally, however, fizzled this week due to increased volatility in global financial markets after the lofty levels the dollar had scaled in recent months.
Bitcoin futures, on the other hand, posted their largest net long position since the contract was launched in 2018.
For the week of May 17, net longs in bitcoin rose to 806 contracts, compared with net longs of 703 contracts the previous week, CFTC data showed.
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, last fell 3.6% to $29,203, not far from a December 2020 low of $25,400 it hit a few weeks ago.
