The commitment of traders report (COT) is a report that shows the breakdown in positions for all major contracts where more than 20 traders hold positions.
The report shows the breakdown as it was at the open on a Tuesday and is released each Friday afternoon by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It seeks to give traders information about whether the majority of traders are or , as well as how many contracts are currently open.
The COT gives a good overview of the sentiment and whether the institutional traders are or and can help as a guidance to determine a bias towards the markets.
Care should be taken: this isn’t a report that reflects the current situation in the markets, because the data is subject to change after publication.
