Introduction to the COT Report
The Commitment of Traders report is published every week by the CFTC. It reveals how large institutions are positioned — information retail traders rarely know how to use.
What Is the COT Report?
The Commitment of Traders (COT) report is published every Friday at 3:30 PM ET by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It discloses the net long and short positions of three groups of traders in US futures markets — including currency futures on the CME, a transparent proxy for positioning in spot forex.
The Three Reporting Groups
Commercial Traders (Hedgers): Corporations and institutions using futures to hedge currency exposure from core business. Contrarian by nature — they sell what they earn and buy what they spend. Their extreme positioning often precedes major reversals.
Non-Commercial Traders (Large Speculators): Hedge funds, CTAs, and large speculative positions. Their directional positioning correlates most strongly with subsequent price trends. At extreme net longs, they are often late — and reversal risk increases.
Non-Reportable Positions (Small Speculators): Traders below the reporting threshold. Their aggregate positioning is often contrarian — maximum long at peaks, maximum short at troughs.
Where to Access COT Data
The CFTC publishes data free at cftc.gov. For usable chart-based visualization, Barchart.com, Oanda, and TradingView (via community indicators) all display historical net positioning for each group in an accessible format — making it easy to spot extremes and trend changes week over week.
Legacy vs Disaggregated Reports
The CFTC publishes two main formats: Legacy (original three-group breakdown) and Disaggregated (splits commercial into producer/hedger and swap dealer). For forex analysis, the Legacy report is the most widely used and easiest to interpret for weekly analysis.
The COT report shows what the biggest players are doing with real capital — not what they are saying publicly. Real positioning beats public commentary every time.