What is the COT Report and How to Use It in Trading

What is the COT Report and How It Works

The Commitment of Traders Report (COT Report) is a powerful and free tool every trader should know. Published weekly by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. regulator of futures and options markets, it's one of the most transparent and official sources for understanding capital flows in the financial markets.

With the COT Report, you can clearly see how different categories of market participants are positioned: hedge funds, banks, large institutional managers, and even retail traders. These aren’t opinions or subjective analyses but hard data showing where capital has already been allocated, offering an informational edge no technical indicator alone can provide.

However, it’s essential to note: the COT Report is not real-time. It reflects positions as of Tuesday and is released on Friday, creating a slight delay. That’s why it’s ideal for swing trading and mid- to long-term analysis, but less suitable for short-term intraday decisions.

Structure of the COT Report: What It Includes

To truly understand the COT Report, it’s important to know how it’s structured and what data it includes.The report is updated every Tuesday and released each Friday by the CFTC.

It contains four key data points:

• Long positions → indicate bullish expectations
• Short positions → indicate bearish expectations
• Spread positions → complex strategies combining long and short
• Net positions → the difference between long and short contracts, useful to assess overall sentiment by group

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How to Use the COT Report in Trading

The COT Report isn’t a predictive tool in the traditional sense, it’s a compass that helps interpret institutional positioning and translate it into an informational edge.

Its value lies in offering a weekly snapshot of institutional sentiment that can guide your trading bias.

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Here’s how to use it effectively:

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• Track weekly changes in positions, especially among Non-Commercials (hedge funds, asset managers, CTAs). As key speculators, their behavior often signals the medium-term trend.
• Compare net positions to historical levels: when positioning hits long-term highs or lows, the market may be nearing exhaustion and due for a reversal.
• Watch for divergences between Non-Commercials and Commercials: when speculators push in one direction while hedgers move the other way, the trend may be aging.
• Use it as a filter, not a trigger: the COT builds directional bias, but trade entries should rely on price action, technicals, or volume analysis. The report is your compass—the chart confirms the route.
• Maintain a weekly perspective: since data is delayed (Tuesday positions, Friday release), the COT isn’t suited for intraday timing but is powerful for swing and medium-term strategy alignment.

Where to View the COT Report

The COT Report is public and free, but not always easy to read in raw format. Here are the best platforms to access it:

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• CFTC.gov – Official source, comprehensive but not user-friendly
• Tradingster.com – Clean interface with charts and tables
• TradingView – Custom COT indicators (Net Position, Oscillator, Index)
• Morpheus Research Vault – Actionable reports and outlooks with contextualized bias and levels.