(Adds details on dollar, bitcoin contracts, comments, table, byline)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Speculators raised net short U.S. dollar bets this week, pushing them to their highest level since mid-December, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the net short dollar positions, derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars, was $4.62 billion in the week ended Jan. 2, up from net shorts of around $460 million the previous week.In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the U.S. dollar posted a net short position valued at $5.433 billion, compared with $1.079 billion the week before.
Net short U.S. dollar contracts rose after declining for three straight weeks, underscoring negative sentiment on the greenback despite the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates this year.
Speculators, meanwhile, pared back net short positions on bitcoin futures traded on Cboe Global Markets to 1,688 contracts this week, from 1,801 the previous week, CFTC data showed.
Digital currency bitcoin has been on a roller-coaster ride the last few months. After hitting an all-time high just shy of $20,000 on Dec. 17 on the Bitstamp platform, it plunged more than 40 percent in five days to a low of $11,159.93. That highlighted the volatility of an asset that has attracted interest from both individual and institutional investors.
Bitcoin has since stabilized and on Friday was trading up more than 10 percent to $16,692 . For the whole of 2017, bitcoin had risen more than 1,300 percent, the most increase in value by any asset.
"There will be some betting big that 2017 can't repeat itself for bitcoin and that there will be a pullback - although at present they seem to have egg on their faces," said Charles Hayter, founder of industry website Cryptocompare in London.
Hayter though expects bitcoin to remain volatile this year, but sees the entire cryptocurrency market expanding with new investment instruments focused on the space.
In the case of the dollar, sentiment remained negative, with analysts seeing little upside in the currency because all the good news such as the rate increases and the U.S. tax plan have already been priced in by investors.
Some analysts also have little faith in the Federal Reserve being able to push through with its forecast of three rate hikes this year given persistently low inflation.
For the week, the dollar index ended down 0.1 percent, after posting losses of 10 percent in 2017.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $13.556 billion
02 Jan 2018Prior week
week Long 39,59244,269Short 161,358 160,355Net-121,766-116,086 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)$-19.271 billion
02 Jan 2018Prior week
week Long236,808 208,913Short 108,940 116,765Net 127,86892,148 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)$-1.379 billion
02 Jan 2018 Prior week
week Long 93,611 76,354Short77,376 63,678Net16,235 12,676 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)$2.089 billion
02 Jan 2018 Prior week
week Long 24,984 31,959Short41,216 45,861Net -16,232-13,902 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)$-1.178 billion
02 Jan 2018 Prior week
week Long 49,297 42,372Short34,558 25,026Net14,739 17,346 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)$1.568 billion
02 Jan 2018 Prior week
week Long 45,175 38,210Short65,201 51,849Net -20,026-13,639 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)$-0.897 billion
02 Jan 2018 Prior week
week Long 93,804 87,576Short58,746 51,192Net35,058 36,384 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)$1.206 billion
02 Jan 2018 Prior week
week Long 15,509 18,140Short32,494 35,726Net -16,985-17,586(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Diane Craft and Susan Thomas)
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