COT Report Types & Trader Categories
The CFTC publishes four distinct Commitments of Traders report formats. Each divides the market into different trader categories — understanding who is in each group is the foundation of COT analysis.
The U.S. CFTC publishes four COT report formats: Legacy (Futures Only) splits traders into Non-Commercial, Commercial and Non-Reportable; Disaggregated splits commodity reporters into Producer/Merchant, Swap Dealers, Managed Money and Other Reportables; TFF applies an equivalent split to financial futures (Dealer, Asset Manager, Leveraged Funds, Other Reportables); Supplemental adds an Index Traders category for 13 agricultural markets.
REPORT FORMAT 1
Legacy COT Report — Futures Only Positions Analysis
Access the full Legacy COT (Commitment of Traders) data for futures only positions. This report tracks three key trader categories: Non-Commercial traders (large speculators like hedge funds), Commercial Traders (hedgers and producers), and Non-Reportables (Small Retail Traders). Our advanced charts and analysis tools help you identify market sentiment, positioning extremes, and potential reversals.
Non-Commercial Traders (Speculators)
This group includes large speculative participants, such as hedge funds, Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), and other institutional traders not directly in the physical commodity business. They typically hold long or short positions based on their market outlook, fundamentals, or technical analysis. When their positions become crowded, it can signal changes in sentiment or momentum. Their behavior helps identify where speculative capital is concentrated and how it evolves.
Commercial Traders (Hedgers)
Commercials represent the core participants in the physical or financial markets who use futures to manage real exposure to price risk. This group includes producers, processors, merchants, and dealers. They buy or sell commodities as part of their business operations, using futures to hedge against unfavorable price movements. Commercials are often viewed as the best-informed participants because they operate directly within the supply chain. Their positioning is widely used as a contrarian indicator, particularly when net positions reach historical extremes.
Non-Reportable Traders (Retail)
These are small traders and entities below the CFTC reporting threshold. Represent the least informed market participants — typically retail speculators reacting to price trends. Because of their smaller size, these positions are calculated as the residual: total open interest minus the reported (large trader) positions. Tracking their behavior helps professional traders gauge when retail sentiment is overextended.
REPORT FORMAT 2
COT Report Disaggregated — Futures and Options Combined Positions Analysis
Access the full Disaggregated COT data for futures and options combined positions. This report tracks five key trader categories: Producer/Merchant/Processor/User (Commercial Hedgers), Swap Dealers (Financial Intermediaries), Managed Money (Large Speculators Like Hedge Funds and CTAs), Other Reportables (Other Large Traders), and Non-Reportables (Small Retail Traders).
Producers, Merchants, Processors & Users (Commercial Hedgers)
Major producers, processors, merchants, and end-users of physical commodities. They use futures to hedge against adverse price movements and stabilize business operations. Their positioning reflects real-world supply and demand dynamics.
Swap Dealers (Financial Intermediaries)
Large financial institutions that act as intermediaries between clients and the futures markets. They manage exposure from OTC swaps and hedge client-related risks through futures. Often take the other side of speculative flows as part of their intermediary role.
Managed Money — Hedge Funds (Smart Money)
Speculative funds and CTAs using leverage to capitalize on market trends and short-term price movements. Represent the most active and directional traders in the Disaggregated Report. Their positioning is closely watched as a proxy for "smart money" sentiment.
Other Reportable Traders
Large participants not classified in the other groups. These traders often combine speculative and hedging strategies tailored to their specific business or portfolio needs. Their behavior varies widely depending on market conditions.
Non-Reportable Traders (Retail)
Small traders and entities below the CFTC reporting threshold. Represent the least informed market participants — typically retail speculators reacting to price trends.
REPORT FORMAT 3
Traders in Financial Futures COT Report — Complete Analysis
Analyze TFF (Traders in Financial Futures) reports covering financial futures markets including currencies, U.S. Treasury bonds, short-term interest rates (SOFR) and stock indices. This premium report provides granular trader positioning data broken down by Dealer/Intermediary (market makers and broker-dealers), Asset Manager/Institutional (pension funds, endowments, insurance companies), Leveraged Funds (hedge funds and CTAs), and Other Reportables, offering institutional-grade insights into professional market positioning and sentiment trends with weekly CFTC data updates.
Dealer / Intermediary
Major investment banks and institutions acting as dealers or intermediaries. They hedge risk from high-volume client transactions. Typically the commercial hedger equivalent in financial futures markets.
Asset Manager / Institutional
Pension funds, mutual funds, insurance companies. They trade for asset allocation and long-term exposure adjustment. Their flows reflect structural portfolio shifts and longer-term capital deployment.
Leveraged Funds (Smart Money)
Hedge funds using high leverage and aggressive strategies. Represents the purest speculative category in financial futures. Their positioning is the closest proxy for directional "smart money" conviction.
Other Reportables
Entities exceeding reporting thresholds but not fitting into the first three categories. Typically companies with specific hedging needs.
Non-Reportable Traders (Retail)
Individual traders and small entities below reporting thresholds. Considered small speculators or "Dumb Money".
REPORT FORMAT 4
Supplemental COT Report — Commodity Index Traders
The Supplemental report covers 13 selected agricultural futures markets and is the only CFTC format that isolates Commodity Index Traders (CIT) — passive index funds tracking commodity benchmarks. It tracks four categories: Non-Commercial (large speculators), Commercial (hedgers), Index Traders (CIT funds), and Non-Reportables (small traders). By separating index fund flows from active speculation, this report reveals whether agricultural price moves are driven by fundamentals or by index rebalancing.
Non-Commercial Traders (Speculators)
Large speculative participants such as hedge funds, CTAs and proprietary trading desks. They take directional positions based on technicals, fundamentals or macro views. Their positioning often reflects the dominant speculative narrative of the moment.
Commercial Traders (Hedgers)
Producers, processors, merchants and end-users of agricultural commodities. They use futures to hedge real exposure to price risk. As participants directly inside the supply chain, their positioning is widely treated as a contrarian signal at extremes.
Index Traders (CIT)
Commodity Index Traders are passive funds tracking benchmarks like the S&P GSCI or Bloomberg Commodity Index. They roll long-only exposure mechanically and rebalance on a fixed calendar. Isolating their flows lets you tell whether a price move is fundamental or simply driven by index rebalancing.
Non-Reportable Traders (Retail)
Small traders and entities below the CFTC reporting threshold. Calculated as the residual: total open interest minus all reported categories. Useful as a sentiment proxy for retail positioning extremes in agricultural markets.
Glossary of COT Terms
- Non-Commercial
- Large speculative traders — primarily hedge funds, CTAs and proprietary trading firms — that hold reportable positions but do not use the futures market for commercial hedging. Used as the speculative-sentiment proxy in the Legacy COT format.
- Commercial
- Hedgers — entities that use the futures market primarily to offset price risk in their underlying business (e.g. an oil producer selling futures, an airline buying futures). They usually trade against the trend — selling into strength and buying into weakness.
- Non-Reportable
- Traders whose position size is below the CFTC reporting threshold. Effectively retail and small institutional positioning. Often interpreted as a contrarian sentiment indicator at extremes.
- Managed Money
- Disaggregated COT category for commodity pool operators, commodity trading advisors (CTAs) and other registered professional money managers — including hedge funds. The closest analogue to Non-Commercial in the more granular Disaggregated format.
- Swap Dealers
- Disaggregated COT category for entities that deal primarily in commodity swaps and use futures to hedge those swap positions. Typically large banks and specialised commodity firms. Often the counterparty to Managed Money trades.
- Producer/Merchant/Processor/User
- Disaggregated COT category for entities engaged in the physical production, processing, packing or handling of the underlying commodity — the textbook commercial hedger.
- Other Reportables
- Disaggregated COT category for reportable traders who are not Producer/Merchant, Swap Dealers or Managed Money. Often includes proprietary trading firms and other institutional positions.
- Index Traders
- Supplemental COT category specifically for entities whose positions are driven by tracking a major commodity index (e.g. S&P GSCI, Bloomberg Commodity Index). Includes index funds, ETFs and swap dealers hedging index-linked swap exposure.
- Dealer/Intermediary
- TFF COT category for large institutional market-makers in financial futures — typically the dealing desks of major banks and broker-dealers.
- Asset Manager/Institutional
- TFF COT category for pension funds, endowments, insurance companies and mutual funds. Holds longer-term positions for asset allocation rather than short-term speculation.
- Leveraged Funds
- TFF COT category for hedge funds, CTAs and other speculative money managers that take directional positions on financial markets. The financial-futures equivalent of Managed Money.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many COT report formats does the CFTC publish?
The CFTC publishes four COT formats every week: Legacy (Futures Only and Combined), Disaggregated (Futures Only and Combined), Traders in Financial Futures (TFF, Futures Only and Combined), and Supplemental Commodity Index Traders. All four are released simultaneously every Friday at 3:30 PM Eastern Time.
Which COT format should I use?
Use Legacy Futures Only for the longest historical time series (data goes back to 1986; format itself dates to 1962) and the simplest 3-category breakdown. Use Disaggregated for commodity markets where you want to separate hedge-fund positioning from physical hedgers. Use TFF for financial markets (currencies, treasuries, indices) where you want to separate leveraged speculators from institutional asset managers. Use Supplemental specifically to track commodity index fund flows in the 13 agricultural markets where they have meaningful exposure.
What is the Combined version of each report?
Combined reports include both futures positions and the futures-equivalent of options positions (delta-adjusted). Futures Only reports include only futures contracts. Most analysts use Futures Only for cleaner positioning signals; portfolio risk managers prefer Combined because it reflects total exposure.
When did each COT format start?
Legacy Futures Only data goes back to 1986 (the format itself dates to 1962). Disaggregated was introduced in September 2009 and Traders in Financial Futures (TFF) in June 2010, providing more granular trader categories. The Supplemental Commodity Index Traders report was introduced in January 2007 to track index-fund flows after concerns about the 'financialisation' of commodities.
Are all four COT formats free?
The raw CFTC data is public-domain. On COT-Reports.com, the Legacy format is fully free — 6 months of history without an account, up to 10 years with a free account. Disaggregated, TFF and Supplemental are Premium features. Charts and the Heatmap also include premium-format data.
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