COT Report Data, Free Charts, Tables & Index

By tracking trader positioning data and monitoring speculative position trends, traders gain insight into the actions of market participants with the greatest influence on price. Despite these drawbacks, the report remains highly useful for traders who operate on swing or position timeframes. Institutional traders rarely reverse positions abruptly without cause, meaning their sentiment trends often persist despite short-term noise. This persistence makes the COT report especially valuable for identifying the broader direction of market forces. Another limitation is that the COT report reflects futures market positions rather than spot forex positions. While these markets are closely correlated, they can differ in liquidity, participant behaviour, and reaction times.

• The COT Open Interest is the total position that entered the market in a specific time.
• While the COT report does not predict exact price movements, it shows the direction in which big traders are betting.
• Traders have different views on COT, which can vary significantly.
• The chart below is for Euro futures with its COT data applied; the blue line on the price chart shows prices making higher highs while large speculator positions are making lower highs.
• One of its functions is to provide transparency in the financial markets by publishing the Commitment of Traders report.

The reports can also provide tools for analyzing market sentiment and forecasting potential price movements. By showing when different groups of traders have more bearish or bullish outlooks, COT numbers can provide valuable context for market analysis. There’s also the idea that COT data could offer an early warning of a major turn in a market, with extreme long or short positions possibly signaling the reversal of a trend. When commercial hedgers and large speculators strongly disagree on market direction, significant price movements often follow. This chart shows the weekly Commitment of Traders report published by the CFTC. The COT report is considered to be an indicator that analyzes market sentiment.

Very high net long positions among Commercials might suggest they see prices as cheap (potential bottom nearby), while very high net short positions suggest they see prices as expensive (potential top nearby). The CFTC offers the COT data in a few different flavors, tailored to specific market types and user needs. Knowing these formats helps you select the most relevant data for your analysis, making the commitment of traders report explained more precise. Standalone long and short positions in their self do not give many insights about the overall positioning of a market participant. For that, we calculate the net positions of every market participant. That gives a much clearer view on the overall positioning in that market.

The Commitment of Traders (COT) report is a weekly update which shows who holds positions in the futures market. For investors who are curious about the futures markets—or just interested in how commodities trading works—the COT report offers a snapshot of who’s buying and selling. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and financial exchanges have taken multiple measures over the years to provide greater market transparency for investors. The U.S. futures industry’s primary regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has its own mechanism to provide a look behind the curtain, so to speak. You notice that non-commercial traders have significantly increased their long positions over the past few weeks. There is no magical indicator that will tell us where the market is headed; however, using different types of indicators that are independent from each other can help a trader make a more informed decision.

Take Your Trading To A New Level

Algorithmic trading strategies increasingly incorporate COT data into their models, using it to adjust exposure based on shifts in institutional sentiment. For example, an algorithm might scale into trades when positioning trends align with technical momentum and scale out when sentiment weakens. However, the most critical insights often come from sudden shifts in positioning. A rapid change from net long to net short — or vice versa — may indicate that market sentiment has reached a tipping point. Such reversals can precede sharp trend changes, especially when they occur alongside key economic events, interest rate announcements, or geopolitical developments. COT reports are not exclusive for experienced traders; in fact, they are invaluable tools for every beginner trader.

In many cases, traders can identify the strength of a specific trend and use it as a confirmation tool through changes in position levels for different market participants. For example, in an ideal world, we can expect that if the price is rising, large speculators are buying while commercials are selling, and we can consider it a representation of a healthy trend. On the other hand, a divergence between the above can signal the opposite. The report history provides historical positioning thresholds or extremes that were previously reached. Although markets grow and do break and create new position levels, the existing historical position levels have proved to be significant many times in the past. A major advantage of the COT report is that it provides us with historical extreme position levels.

Perfect for new retail traders looking to improve their trading skills and make more informed trading decisions.“ The Large Trader Net Position Changes data can be found in this excel workbook or comma-delimited text file. Please note that each worksheet focuses on one commodity futures contract. The CFTC is providing the data to the public on a one-time basis. For further details about these reports, see the explanatory notes that accompany each report.

Monitor the actions of the Non-Commercial / Leveraged Fund category relative to the prevailing price trend. Are they adding to long positions during an uptrend or adding to shorts during a downtrend? This alignment confirms their participation and can validate the trend’s strength. If the price trend continues but this group’s participation weakens (e.g., they reduce longs even as price makes new highs), it could be an early warning sign.

Asset Manager/ Institutional

These extreme position levels, whether long or short, can be significant for traders as they may represent a turning point. This category includes the total positions for other market participants who don’t fall under the previously mentioned categories. This group is also another large segment of market participants and is also considered to be trend followers; however, their trading approaches towards different markets can vary significantly. Enhance your trading journey with a broker that provides cutting-edge technology within a secure, regulated framework. Discover how Opofinance supports traders who utilize tools like the commitment of traders report explained here.

Example: Applying COT to GBP/USD Trading

These bots are designed to adapt to various market conditions across major pairs like GBP/USD and USD/CHF, ensuring a robust trading experience. I’ve developed a portfolio of 15 trading bots that incorporate COT data as part of their strategy. This powerful tool can help you make informed trading decisions in the Forex market. Ever feel like you’re trading in the dark, unsure of where the market might go next? As always, all commitment of traders forex trading tools are vulnerable to criticism and can be scrutinized.

Plan your trading

The commitment of traders report explained here does not provide positioning data for individual company stocks or Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Information on institutional holdings in specific stocks is typically found in different regulatory filings, such as the SEC’s Form 13F. The report tracks positioning in currency futures, not the huge OTC Forex spot market. However, the big players active in futures (banks, funds) are usually major players in the spot market too.

This regular update helps traders stay informed and adjust their strategies based on the latest market sentiment. To read the COT report, look at the currency futures section and check the long (buy) and short (sell) positions held by non-commercial traders like hedge funds. If long positions are rising, it means more traders expect the currency to go up. Watching these trends helps you plan your forex trades better. The COT (Commitment of Traders) report is a weekly report by the CFTC that shows the total positions held by large traders in the futures market, including currencies.

• A classic and often powerful interpretation involves looking for situations where the Commercials and Non-Commercials hold diametrically opposing views, particularly when both groups are at historical extremes.
• The “Net Position” ratios are computed after offsetting each trader’s equal long and short positions.
• Clearing members, futures commission merchants, and foreign brokers (collectively called reporting firms) file daily reports with the Commission.
• By combining this data with charts and news, forex traders can make smarter decisions and avoid risky moves.

Speculative money is made up of hedge funds, commodity trading advisors (CTAs) and other major investment funds. These are purely interested in profiting from price movements. Traders looking for an extra tool in their armoury would do well to look at the weekly CoT reports, which show where the big institutional money is going. Please ensure you understand how this product works and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing money. Copyright © 2025 FactSet Research Systems Inc.Copyright © 2025, American Bankers Association. SEC fillings and other documents provided by Quartr.© 2025 TradingView, Inc.

How the Forex Market Works: A Beginner’s Guide

The comparison of the net positions is giving us the first understanding of the overall situation. You can get the chart and historical comparison on each market on the overview table. COT reports are used by many speculative traders to help making decisions on whether to take a long or short position.

According to BabyPips, a high net long means most buyers are already in. The COT report shows how institutional traders are positioned in the futures market. Forex traders use it for sentiment analysis and spot possible reversals. It shows positions held by commercial traders, non-commercial traders, and small traders. It includes total long, short, and spread positions for each group.

What Is The Commitment of Traders (COT) Report?

It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients. When bad news emerges, if speculators are already heavily short then the price may not move down by much. And bad news might not hit a market hard even when money managers are heavily net long, since longs are usually less keen to abandon their positions than shorts. I am excited to share with you my PDF guide on how to read the COT report.