NEW YORK, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Speculators raised net short U.S. dollar positioning in the latest week to its largest level since July 2021, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Monday.

The value of the net short dollar position hit $1.82 billion in the week ended Nov. 22 from a net short of $10.5 million in the previous week. Speculators have been net short the dollar for a second straight week.

Investors have flipped their net long dollar positions, anticipating weakness in the U.S. currency on expectations that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of interest rates increases after raising them by 75 basis points multiple times.

Last week, the dollar fell another 0.9% =USD . For the month of November, the dollar index has so far dropped about 4.3%, on track for its largest monthly fall since September 2010.

However, record COVID cases in China and citizens protesting against the country's zero-COVID rules have increased safe-haven flows to the U.S. dollar.

"The (dollar index) has certainly shown some signs of life around its 200-day average and support in the 1.0500-1.0540 area. But it is far too early to say whether this will turn into a full-on rally," wrote Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and Forex.com in London, in a research note.

He added that 200-day moving average is a key support and the dollar is still inside a long-term bull trend.

"After the recent sell-off, the downside risks have now diminished in my view," said Razaqzada.

The increase in net short dollar positioning came as euro net longs soared to 123,112 contracts, the highest since February 2021.

In the cryptocurrency market, net longs on bitcoin futures rose to 706, the highest since the week of Oct. 11, CFTC data showed. Speculators have been net long bitcoin for a third straight week.

The increase in net longs on bitcoin came as the crypto market grappled with the fallout from the collapse of crypto exchange FTX when it filed for bankruptcy a few weeks ago.

U.S. cryptocurrency lender BlockFi said on Monday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection along with eight affiliates in a New Jersey court.

Bitcoin was last down 1.31% at $16,209 BTC=BTSP . Since the beginning of the year, bitcoin has plunged 65%. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $5.909 billion

22 Nov 2022

Prior week

week

Long

30,800

33,797 Short

95,650

99,639 Net

-64,850

-65,842 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $-14.573 billion

22 Nov 2022

Prior week

week

Long

239,598

239,369 Short

116,486

126,703 Net

123,112

112,666 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $2.433 billion

22 Nov 2022

Prior week

week

Long

30,917

34,699 Short

66,859

67,533 Net

-35,942

-32,834 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $2.228 billion

22 Nov 2022

Prior week

week

Long

1,910

2,271 Short

16,386

19,098 Net

-14,476

-16,827 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $0.973 billion

22 Nov 2022

Prior week

week

Long

36,733

37,456 Short

48,405

50,376 Net

-11,672

-12,920 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $3.023 billion

22 Nov 2022

Prior week

week

Long

32,825

33,214 Short

75,611

77,963 Net

-42,786

-44,749 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $-1.753 billion

22 Nov 2022

Prior week

week

Long

188,446

197,700 Short

125,127

129,849 Net

63,319

67,851 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $0.408 billion

22 Nov 2022

Prior week

week

Long

15,536

15,285 Short

19,820

21,913 Net

-4,284

-6,628
Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Mark Porter and Lisa Shumaker