The (COT) - COMMITMENT OF TRADERS Mystery Revealed

This is NOT an in-depth explanation or a way to trade, this is just highlighting some basics from a question I get a lot, you might see some traders talking about COT data. You may even see it in some posts. There's no magic to it, all you need to know is what exactly it is.

Of course, if you can use it within your edge to understand some bias by the bigger operators.

What is COT Data?
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) publishes the Commitments of Traders (COT) reports to help the public understand market dynamics. Specifically, the COT reports provide a breakdown of each Tuesday’s open interest for futures and options on futures markets in which 20 or more traders hold positions equal to or above the reporting levels established by the CFTC.

The COT reports are based on position data supplied by reporting firms (FCMs, clearing members, foreign brokers and exchanges). While the position data is supplied by reporting firms, the actual trader category or classification is based on the predominant business purpose self-reported by traders on the CFTC Form 401 and is subject to review by CFTC staff for reasonableness.2 CFTC staff does not know specific reasons for traders’ positions and hence this information does not factor in determining trader classifications. In practice, this means, for example, that the position data for a trader classified in the “producer/merchant/processor/user” category for a particular commodity will include all of its positions in that commodity, regardless of whether the position is for hedging or speculation. 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.

You can read more info and get the actual data from the CFTC site itself.
www.cftc.gov/MarketR...sofTraders/index.htm


Methodology

The weekly report details trader positions in most of the futures contract markets in the United States. Data for the report is required by the CFTC from traders in markets that have 20 or more traders holding positions large enough to meet the reporting level established by the CFTC for each of those markets.1 These data are gathered from schedules electronically submitted each week to the CFTC by market participants listing their position in any market for which they meet the reporting criteria.

The report provides a breakdown of aggregate positions held by three different types of traders: “commercial traders,” “non-commercial traders” and “nonreportable.” “Commercial traders” are sometimes called “hedgers”, “non-commercial traders” are sometimes known as “large speculators,” and the “nonreportable” group is sometimes called “small speculators.”

As one would expect, the largest positions are held by commercial traders that actually provide a commodity or instrument to the market or have bought a contract to take delivery of it. Thus, as a general rule, more than half the open interest in most of these markets is held by commercial traders. There is also participation in these markets by speculators that are not able to deliver on the contract or that have no need for the underlying commodity or instrument. They are buying or selling only to speculate that they will exit their position at a profit, and plan to close their long or short position before the contract becomes due. In most of these markets the majority of the open interest in these "speculator" positions are held by traders whose positions are large enough to meet reporting requirements.
*** Reference from Wikipedia***

When combining with other analysis - you can use it to obtain bias or simple confluence with your existing ideas. For example, here's the chart plotted on a weekly timeframe using Elliott wave theory - Plotted usign another piece of software called "Advanced Get"
If you combine this with the data from the CFTC website - you will see that the professional operators have been reducing long positions and gaining albeit staggered short positions on the move down.

This showing the overall trend move - If you drill down further and look at the difference in short positions between the 19th of Jan and the following week (26th) on a daily chart you will see a rally. (go check it for yourself)

A useful tool

As I said at the start of the post, it's not the master strategy. It's simply another tool - I just wanted to share some info with the community on what it is and how it can be used.

If used correctly - it can prove useful.


Have a great week, feel free to pop questions below.

Disclaimer
This idea does not constitute as financial advice. It is for educational purposes only, our principle trader has over 20 years’ experience in stocks, ETF’s, and Forex. Hence each trade setup might have different hold times, entry or exit conditions, and will vary from the post/idea shared here. You can use the information from this post to make your own trading plan for the instrument discussed. Trading carries a risk; a high percentage of retail traders lose money. Please keep this in mind when entering any trade. Stay safe.