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COT report this week
What the big speculators (hedge funds and other large traders) are holding in FX futures, Gold and Silver, from the CFTC Commitments of Traders report. Explained in plain English, with one rule: only act on it at strong technical levels.
This week in plain English
- EUR: speculators are most short in 3 years (COT index 0). A crowded trade, so watch for it to unwind.
- AUD: speculators are most short in 3 years (COT index 0). A crowded trade, so watch for it to unwind.
- NZD: speculators are near their most short in 3 years (COT index 5). A crowded trade, so watch for it to unwind.
- Biggest weekly shift: GBP, where speculators added 19,593 net long contracts.
- Gold: speculators stay net long (84.3% of positions long), with the COT index at 26 of 100.
- Strongest speculator bias among the 28 pairs: GBP/AUD, GBP/NZD to the upside, EUR/USD, AUD/USD to the downside.
Net positioning by market
Net contracts held by non-commercials (large speculators). The COT index shows where this week's net position sits in its 3-year range, from 0 (most short) to 100 (most long). EXT marks a 3-year extreme. The line shows the last 26 weeks.
| Market | Net | COT index |
|---|---|---|
| EUREuro FX | −157,791 | 0EXT |
| GBPBritish Pound | −59,821 | 19 |
| AUDAustralian Dollar | −129,457 | 0EXT |
| NZDNew Zealand Dollar | −60,015 | 5EXT |
| USDUS Dollar (synthetic) | +$36.7bn | 79 |
| CADCanadian Dollar | −41,775 | 66 |
| CHFSwiss Franc | −16,589 | 72 |
| JPYJapanese Yen | +102,321 | 79 |
| Gold | +179,548 | 26 |
| Silver | +21,251 | 16 |
USD has no clean futures contract, so it is built from the seven majors and shown in US dollars.
The 28 pairs, ranked
Tap a pair for its daily sentiment page. Base currency index minus quote currency index. Green means speculators back the base currency over the quote, red the other way round. Strongest bias first.
COT report questions
What is the COT report?
The Commitments of Traders report is published every week by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It shows how different groups of traders are positioned in US futures markets. This page uses the non-commercial group, the large speculators such as hedge funds, because they tend to ride trends.
When is the COT report released?
Every Friday at 3:30pm US Eastern time, covering positions as of the Tuesday before. After a US public holiday it can come out a day or two late. This page updates automatically soon after each release.
What is the COT index?
It places this week's net position in its range over the last three years: 0 is the most short speculators have been in that time, 100 the most long. Readings of 10 or below, or 90 or above, are flagged as extremes, where the trade is crowded and more likely to unwind.
How should I trade with it?
Not on its own. COT is slow, weekly data that tells you which way the big money leans. Use it to pick a side, then wait for price to reach a strong daily or weekly supply or demand level before you act. QDB pairs it with retail sentiment for that reason: when the crowd and the speculators disagree at a key level, that is where the best setups appear.
Can I use this data in my own sheet?
Yes. The numbers are free as markets CSV, pairs CSV and JSON. In Google Sheets, use =IMPORTDATA("https://quasidb.com/data/cot-markets.csv").
COT is the slow picture. Retail sentiment is the fast one.
QDB tracks what retail traders are doing hour by hour, and scores every setup against strong technical levels. See how the two fit together.
Source: CFTC Commitments of Traders, Legacy futures-only report. Educational only, not financial advice. Trading on margin carries a high level of risk. Back to QDB Trading Desk