As investor sentiment cools, traders may become more cautious about their risk exposure with tighter stops or protective options. The COT report essentially shows the net long or short positions for each available futures contract for three different types of traders. If traders are overwhelmingly long or increasing their long positions then we will have a bullish bias on that market. Similarly, if traders are short or increasing their short positions then we will have a bearish bias. This can be achieved by many different methods but the general principle is to compare the current data to a “look-back” period of some sort.

CFTC staff does not know specific reasons for traders’ positions and hence this information does not factor in determining trader classifications. Note that traders are able to report business purpose by commodity and, therefore, can have different classifications in the COT reports for different commodities. For one of the reports, Traders in Financial Futures, traders are classified in the same category for all commodities. These are typically hedge funds and various types of money managers, including registered commodity trading advisors ; registered commodity pool operators or unregistered funds identified by CFTC. The strategies may involve taking outright positions or arbitrage within and across markets. The traders may be engaged in managing and conducting proprietary futures trading and trading on behalf of speculative clients.

Step 7: Risk- and Position-Management

High open interest indicates high activity and traders pay attention to this market. A rising open interest indicates that there is demand for the currency. Conversely, a weakening open interest indicates that the current trend is not strong. This shows that the downward movement that occurred in the euro last week was supported by the volume and is therefore a strong price action. The COT report is a powerful tool that gives any trader the flexibility to follow different paths when creating their trading strategy. The most important part is to remember that the COT data is another tool and shouldn’t be used alone when making a trading strategy.

• Any opinions, news, research, analysis, prices, or other information contained on this website is provided as general market commentary, and does not constitute investment advice.
• The forex market is an over-the-counter market so brokers and dealers negotiate directly with one another because there is no central exchange or clearing house.
• We have seen a steady decline of short bets against the yen since October, as trade increasingly suspect the BOJ are moving away from their ultra-loose policy.
• So this implies a couple important things to understand about Open Interest.

The total net positions of large speculators show the sentiment this group has in the market. A positive value of the total net positions of speculators indicates bullish sentiment, a negative value of total net positions indicates bearish sentiment. Conservative traders look at the COT as a way to check if the volume traded compliments use technical analysis. This type of trader will avoid making a move on a pair if the COT signals something opposite to what their study suggested.

Commitment of traders – as of Tuesday 24th January 2023:

https://traderoom.info/ contracts are derivatives and are essentially agreements between two parties to exchange an underlying asset for a predetermined price on a predetermined date. They are standardised, specifying the quality and quantity of the underlying asset. They are traded on an exchange so that the total volume of these contracts traded is known. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 73% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

The legacy https://forexhero.info/ is the one with which traders are most familiar. It breaks down the open-interest positions of all major contracts that have more than 20 traders. The legacy COT simply shows the market for a commodity broken into long, short, and spread positions for non-commercial traders, commercial traders, and non-reportable positions . The total open interest is given as well as changes in open interest. Between 2001 and 2004, volume in the foreign-exchange market increased more than 50%, illustrating the overall rise in popularity of currency trading.

Automated Trading

The https://forexdelta.net/s are read as tables, which each row and column labeled appropriately . The information in the report indicates how much interest there is, both long and short, in various derivatives contracts, and which type of market actor is involved. COT reports detail how many long, short, and spread positions make up the open interest. Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader.

This chart outlines how OI is most often used as a tool to detect the health of trends. Non-commercial traders are large speculators; Hedge funds for example. So speculators place trades with the direction of the anticipated price. The COT report is a relatively popular document used by many investors and traders.

This material is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation. The producer price index is a monthly measure of change in the prices received by domestic producers. COT reports can be obtained from the CFTC website and can be downloaded in several file formats.

This information is called the commitment of traders report or “COT report” and is provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. There are different theories on which group is better to monitor but from looking at the NET POSITION CHART above you can clearly see that the speculators and commercial traders positions mirror each other. The net spec positions follow price whereas commercial positions are clearly hedged.

This change is due to the growth of long positions by 7,724 contracts and the growth of short positions by 13,980 contracts. This data suggests bearish sentiment as the total net positions are negative while there has been a decline. There are several iterations of the COT data in various reporting formats, but one single report receives the most attention for traders in the forex market. This report presents the open transactions, whether long, short, or net spread offsets, for each of these three groups.

A small trader has buying or trading activities that are below the required reporting thresholds specified by the relevant exchange or commission. A commercial trader trades on behalf of a business or institution. Looking at the COT example in the table above, we can see that Nasdaq 100 futures, traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange had an open interest of 57,779 contracts on June 15, 2021. Of these, 14,320 were longs held by dealers and 10,875 shorts sold by institutional traders. The COT also delineates the number of contracts involved in spreads.

Commitments of Traders (COT) Charts

Learn how to trade forex in a fun and easy-to-understand format. Open interest is the total of all futures and/or option contracts entered into and not yet offset by a transaction. Highlights potential price reversal points on the chart based on winning/loss ratio. In observance of Juneteenth, Trade Navigator will be closed Monday June 20th, 2022. We will return to the office on Tuesday June 21st and resume our normal business hours.

Before deciding to trade forex and commodity futures, you should carefully consider your financial objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. You should consult with appropriate counsel or other advisors on all investment, legal, or tax matters. References to Forex.com or GAIN Capital refer to GAIN Capital Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries. Please read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Non-reportable positions cover everyone who do not suit the above criteria, and they are also termed small speculators. Commercial open interest is created by firms that have the desire to receive or deliver the underlying.

We introduce people to the world of trading currencies, both fiat and crypto, through our non-drowsy educational content and tools. We’re also a community of traders that support each other on our daily trading journey. Other Reportables – typically ‘buy-side’ and include reportable traders that that do not fit into none of the first three categories. Open trades and pending orders of retail traders are displayed as a two-sided histogram. Price is going down, but new money do not flow into the market. There was an increase in open interest of 7,059 contracts last week.

• This report presents the open transactions, whether long, short, or net spread offsets, for each of these three groups.
• They are standardised, specifying the quality and quantity of the underlying asset.
• When they do this they create a contract out of thin air, and Open Interest increases by “1”.
• With the bigger account of $ 30,000 you can trade 2 to 3 markets and achieve certain results much faster.
• The long signal is provided when “commercials” buy and the “open interest” decreases at the same time.

So hypothetically you could monitor either group for your analysis. The report can be found at and it provides a breakdown of each Tuesday’s open interest for markets in which 20 or more traders hold positions equal to or above the reporting levels established by the CFTC. The Commitments of Traders reports are provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission . COT reports provide a breakdown of each Tuesday’s open interest for markets in which 20 or more traders hold positions equal to or above the reporting levels established by the CFTC. Noncommercial traders are speculators, such as individual traders, hedge funds and large institutions, which operate on the futures market and meet the reporting requirements. The COT reports are based on position data supplied by reporting firms .