Pound Range Holds Though Positioning Tests Another Extreme

[B]GBP[/B][B]/USD Ratio: 1.66
[/B][B]Signal: Bearish[/B]

                                     [B]Currency[/B]             [B]Last Week[/B]             [B]Present*[/B]             [B]% Long[/B]             [B]% Change in Positions   Outstanding[/B]             [B]Signal[/B]                               GBPUSD             1.47             [B]1.66[/B]             62%             3.37%             Bearish                


[B]GBPUSD[/B] – Range conditions have persisted for yet another week in GBPUSD price action. Recently, the pair fell back towards the floor in the pair’s five-month old, broad wedge formation seen around 1.9400/50; and positioning reveals that much like the EURUSD, retail traders are growing more comfortable with the well worn range. In fact, the pair’s SSI ratio stood at 1.66 with 62% of the pool long – the most extreme bullish skew since the beginning of January. As a contrarian gauge, such a bias heightens the probability of a break to the downside, which would quickly bring speculators’ successful range trading strategy to an end. Looking into the breakdown of the sentiment report, there has been a considerable change in positioning over the past week. From yesterday long traders surged 31% higher which in turn left positions 15.7% above last week’s levels. Shorts dropped 15.2% on the day and 12.2% from last Thursday. Overall, net interest in the pair has eased 1.2% from last week and is 3.2% above the monthly average.