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Commitment of Traders (COT) Reports

Understand what the major players are doing in the futures markets with our weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) summaries.

The COT report breaks down trader positioning across key commodity futures—including grains, energy, livestock, and more. We track changes in speculative and commercial positions to give you insight into market sentiment and potential price direction.

Whether you're hedging physical exposure or trading futures, COT data is a valuable tool to:

  • Gauge market sentiment and positioning shifts
  • Spot divergences between price and trader behavior
  • Confirm trend strength or potential reversals

Explore the latest COT trends and trader insights across all major markets. Use the charts below to view current and historical trader positioning.

COT Reports – Weekly Commitment of Traders Data and Analysis by Market

Commitment of Traders (COT) Report

Open Interest

Open interest represents the total number of outstanding futures and option contracts that remain active—contracts that have not been offset, exercised, or delivered. For every long position, there is a corresponding short. Thus, total long open interest always equals total short open interest.

In the COT Futures-and-Options-Combined report, option positions are converted into their futures-equivalent using exchange-provided delta values:

  • Long Call + Short Put = Long Futures-Equivalent Open Interest
  • Short Call + Long Put = Short Futures-Equivalent Open Interest

Example: A trader holding 500 long put options with a delta of 0.50 would be treated as holding a short futures-equivalent position of 250 contracts.

These options-adjusted positions are combined with any direct futures positions to calculate the “combined-long” and “combined-short” totals in the COT report.

Note: Exchange-reported open interest does not include contracts already marked for delivery.

Disaggregated Commitment of Traders (COT) Report

The Disaggregated COT Report offers deeper insight into futures market positioning by breaking down trader roles across key physical commodities. It improves transparency compared to the legacy format by dividing market participants into four clearly defined categories.

Trader Categories

  • Producer / Merchant / Processor / User:
    Entities primarily involved in producing, processing, or handling a physical commodity. These participants use futures markets to hedge risk directly related to their business activities.
  • Swap Dealer:
    Institutions that deal mainly in swaps and utilize futures contracts to manage the risk from those transactions.
  • Managed Money:
    Registered commodity trading advisors (CTAs), commodity pool operators (CPOs), or other unregistered funds identified by the CFTC. These traders manage client assets and engage in futures trading for investment purposes.
  • Other Reportables:
    Large traders who do not meet the criteria for the three categories above but are still required to report their positions.

The enhanced visibility provided by the Disaggregated COT Report helps traders, analysts, and hedgers better assess market sentiment and shifts in speculative vs. commercial activity.

Commitment of Traders 

Producer/Merchant/Producer/User  Vs.  Managed Money 

Agriculture 

Energy

Corn
WTI Crude (ICE)
Paradigm Futures

Sioux Falls, SD

605.886.1920

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Full Disclaimer

The risk of loss in trading futures and/or options is substantial, and each investor and/or trader must consider whether this is a suitable investment. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Trading advice is based on information taken from trades, statistical services, and other sources that Paradigm Futures believes to be reliable. We do not guarantee that such information is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. Trading advice reflects our good faith judgment at a specific time and is subject to change without notice. There is no guarantee that the advice given will result in profitable trades.