By Marco BösingWhat Is the COT Report?
The COT Report (Commitments of Traders) is a weekly report published by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that discloses the aggregate positions of different trader categories in U.S. futures markets. The report is released every Friday and contains data as of Tuesday of the same week.
The COT Report breaks down open interest by trader group — Commercials (hedgers), Non-Commercials (speculators), and Non-Reportables (small speculators). For trading analysis, only one group matters: Non-Commercials. These are the large speculators — hedge funds, CTAs, and institutional traders — who invest millions to find the right market direction. Commercials merely hedge their physical business and provide no directional trading signals. Non-Reportables (small speculators) are also irrelevant.
For traders, the COT Report is a valuable tool for determining a weekly directional bias based on the net positioning of non-commercials. The simple question is: has the positioning of large speculators increased or decreased from week to week?