How to read this

Every week the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission publishes the Commitments of Traders report: how many futures contracts each category of market participant is holding long and short. COT Atlas restates that release for 36 markets — the Legacy report, futures only — and keeps the full weekly history so each figure can be read against its own past.

Timing matters. The figures are as of Tuesday’s close and are published the following Friday afternoon, New York time. The newest row is already three days old when it appears. Positioning data describes where the market has been, not where it is going next.

Non-commercial

Large speculators — funds and money managers trading for profit rather than to hedge a business. This is the side COT Atlas reads most closely, because it is the side that expresses a view.

Commercial

Hedgers — producers, processors and merchants using futures to offset a position in the physical market. They are usually on the other side of the speculators, which is why their net is close to a mirror image.

All 36 markets on one page, for the most recent week.

Long / Short / Total

Contracts held on each side, and the two added together.

%Long / %Short

Each side as a share of that total. The pair always sums to 100, so it is one reading, not two: a high %Long is the same fact as a low %Short.

Net

Long minus short. Positive means the group is net long.

Total Diff

The non-commercial net minus the commercial net — how far apart the two groups are positioned.

vs. Previous Week

The same difference a week earlier, the change between them, and that change as a percentage.

Colour is relative to each market’s own history, never across markets. A green cell means high for that market, not high in absolute terms — 40,000 contracts is an extreme in one market and unremarkable in another.

Each market has its own page with the full weekly history, newest week first, and three reference rows pinned above it: Max and Lo, the highest and lowest that column has ever been, and Avg 13w, the average of the last thirteen weeks. They are what turns a number into a level.

One row per market, answering the same question every week: which of the two non-commercial legs moved, how far, from what level, and for how long. The long leg and the short leg are read separately — that is the whole idea. A net figure that has not moved can hide both sides growing at once.

State

What the two legs did over the last four weeks, as one of nine descriptions — see below.

Legs 4W

The two changes in contracts, long first. This is the evidence the state is read from, shown so the label can always be checked against it.

Move

How large the bigger of those two changes is, measured against that leg’s own range over the past year. A state resting on a small Move is describing very little activity, whatever its label says. Read the two together or not at all.

Since

How many weeks ago the leg that moved more last turned, and the date of that turn.

NC Net

Non-commercial net position, in contracts.

Net %52w

Where that net sits inside its own range over the past year: 0 is the year’s low, 100 its high.

Level

Flags a net position sitting near the top or the bottom of that range — a crowded position, not a signal to fade it.

Profit taking

Set when a leg is shrinking and that same leg was crowded before the unwind began. It says a position is being closed, and which one.

COT bias

The nine states reduced to three. Bullish when speculators are building longs or covering shorts, Bearish for the mirror, Neutral when both legs move the same way — expanding or contracting positioning without picking a side.

These are four separate readings and the app never blends them into a single verdict. Bias gives direction, Move gives size, Level gives how crowded the position is, Profit taking says whether the crowded side is being cut.

Both legs bullish

Longs up, shorts down. Buyers arriving while sellers give up.

Both legs bearish

Longs down, shorts up. The mirror image.

Both sides adding

Both legs up. Positioning is expanding and the two sides disagree — risk is being built rather than resolved.

Both sides cutting

Both legs down. Both sides are closing; the market is stepping back rather than choosing a direction.

Longs building

Longs up, shorts broadly unchanged.

Long liquidation

Longs down, shorts broadly unchanged. Check Profit taking to see whether this is an unwind from a crowded level.

Shorts building

Shorts up, longs broadly unchanged.

Short covering

Shorts down, longs broadly unchanged.

Flat – no change

Neither leg moved enough to count.

CAD, CHF and JPY are inverted

These three store long and short swapped against the raw CFTC figures, on both sides, so the tabs read as USDCAD, USDCHF and USDJPY — the way the currency pair is normally quoted. Every other market follows the CFTC orientation. This is the single easiest thing to misread here.

Positioning tends to follow price

Turns in speculative positioning have historically arrived at or after the matching turn in price more often than before it. These readings describe and confirm a move; they do not forecast one, and they are not built to.

There is no price data here

COT Atlas holds positioning only. Price context has to come from your own charts. A four-week reading can also still show as active after the move behind it has stopped — the Since column is there to catch that.

Not investment advice

COT Atlas is an analysis tool. Nothing in it is investment advice, a personal recommendation, a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any financial instrument. It is general information only and takes no account of your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not provided by a licensed or regulated investment firm.

Nothing tailored to you, and no execution

The data pages describe published positioning. The daily report adds one trader’s own view, including the levels he works from, written for every reader alike and taking no account of your objectives or means. We place no orders and are connected to no broker. Every decision, and its consequences, are yours.

Risk warning

Futures and other leveraged instruments carry a high level of risk. You can lose more than the amount you put in. Do not trade with money you cannot afford to lose, and seek independent advice from a qualified professional if you are unsure.

Past performance

Anything described here is measured on historical data. Past positioning and past price behaviour are not a reliable indicator of future results.

Source and accuracy

Figures originate from the CFTC Commitments of Traders release and are reproduced here as published, including any revision the CFTC later makes. The data is provided as is, without warranty of accuracy, completeness or timeliness, and the service may be unavailable or delayed. Verify against cftc.gov before relying on any single week.

Method

The columns above describe what each reading means. The specific parameters behind them — windows, thresholds and cut-offs — are not published.

This is the plain-language version. The binding wording is in the Risk Disclaimer, alongside the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.