CFTC Commitments of Traders
What is COT data?
Every week, the CFTC forces large futures traders to publicly report their positions. This tells you who is betting which way in every major futures market — from gold to S&P 500 to corn.
Who are the groups?
- Commercials / Producers — Companies that actually use the commodity (e.g. a gold miner hedging). They know their market deeply and are often right at major turning points.
- Non-Commercial / Managed Money — Hedge funds and speculators. They drive trends, but tend to get crowded at extremes right before reversals.
- Non-Reportable — Small traders. Generally considered "dumb money" — they're usually most bullish at tops and most bearish at bottoms.
What to look for
Bullish signal: Commercials are building large long positions (high percentile) while speculators are heavily short. Commercials tend to be right.
Bearish signal: Speculators are at historically extreme long positions. Crowded trades tend to unwind.
- Percentile is the most important column — it tells you where current positioning falls in history. Above 90% or below 10% = extreme.
- Weekly change shows who is actively adding or cutting. A big weekly shift often leads price.
- Open interest rising with price = trend is healthy. Falling open interest = traders are exiting, trend may be exhausted.
Report types
- Legacy — Simplest breakdown (commercial vs speculator). Good starting point. Covers all markets back to 1986.
- Disaggregated — Splits speculators into Managed Money (hedge funds) vs Swap Dealers. More useful for commodities. Since 2006.
- Traders in Financial Futures (TFF) — Best for financial markets (S&P 500, treasuries, FX). Shows Asset Managers vs Leveraged Funds vs Dealers. Since 2010.
Select a market above to view positioning data