Ahead of Central Bank Meetings, Dollar ETF Draws Upside Bets

The European Central Bank meets Thursday, but that is just one of roughly a dozen global central bank meetings over the next 10 days and those meetings appear to be the impetus behind increased bullish options bets on the PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP) .

“On Monday, calls, usually used to place bullish bets on the shares of the ETF, were busy with volume of 33,000 contracts. The calls outnumbered puts by a ratio of about 10 to 1, according to Trade Alert data,” reports Saqib Iqbal Ahmed for Reuters.

Yesterday, UUP gained 0.2% to close at $ 25.25, the ETF’s highest closing print in nearly five years. That extended the U.S. Dollar Index tracking ETF’s year-to-date gain to 5.3%. UUP tracks the dollar movement against a basket of developed market currencines, including the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc. [Dollar ETF Winning Currency Wars]

Last week, PowerShares, the fourth-largest U.S. ETF issuer, temporarily halted creations of new shares in UPP and its bearish equivalent, the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bearish Fund (UDN) , but the creation limit was lifted in about a day, enabling traders to resume using UUP as a vehicle for making bets against the euro.

The CurrencyShares Euro Currency Trust (FXE) is down 7.7% this year, but because currencies can stay weak or strong in the case of the dollar for extended periods, some market observers believe the dollar’s strength is still in the early innings and that the euro is destined for parity – or lower – against the greenback. [Currency Hedged ETF Lessons]

Despite the brief creation suspension, UUP has added $ 10 million in new assets over the past week, a total surpassed by just nine other PowerShares ETFs. Investors have added $ 332.5 million to UUP over the past year, according to issuer data. Only six PowerShares ETFs have seen larger inflows over that period.

The actively managed WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (USDU) is up 3.7% this year. USDU allocates about its half its weight to short positions in the euro and yen, placing the ETF firmly in position from some of the loosest monetary policies in the developed world.

USDU, which has almost $ 313 million in assets under management, also pairs the U.S. dollar against its Australian and Canadian rivals along with the Chinese yuan. Central banks in all three of those countries have lowered interest rates this year.

PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund

ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post.

The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Mr. Lydon serves as an independent trustee of certain mutual funds and ETFs that are managed by Guggenheim Investments; however, any opinions or forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Mr. Lydon and not those of Guggenheim Funds, Guggenheim Investments, Guggenheim Specialized Products, LLC or any of their affiliates. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.