I use the Futures + Options report in lieu of the Futures only Commitments of Traders Report. The Futures + Options report is, obviously more comprehensive, and it is also the basis for the COT-Supplemental breakdown of Index Traders. Although the net position patterns may look almost identical for many markets, the actual position totals [...]

CFTC Announces Details of April 22 Agricultural Forum
Washington, DC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today further details about the upcoming roundtable discussion on the agricultural markets. The roundtable is designed to gather information about whether the futures markets are properly performing their risk management and price discovery roles.
Agenda
Participants
The roundtable will consist of [...]

Let’s review the long-term performance of the COT Index in the euro. This is the youngest of the currencies we follow, replacing the Deutchemark on the IMM futures board in January 1999. In most ways, the euro has followed the well-established Deutchemark patterns in terms of COT net positions (along with cycles and other technical [...]

"The Commitments of Traders Bible" is the first comprehensive guide to the COT report. If you don’t want to know everything there is to know about the Commitments of Traders, then don’t buy this book.  Click here for full details: The Commitments Of Traders Bible by Stephen Briese
 
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Bart Chilton is the former chief lobbyist for National Farmers Union. Jill Sommers comes to the post from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), where she was the chief lobbyist. Swap dealers aren’t regulated by the CFTC. Why would the President appoint someone from the ISDA? Oh, ya, somebody needs to protect the status [...]

COT as a sentiment indicator
Tracking Bigfoot
Illuminating Data
COT Under Attack!
Steve Briese Interview

I finished my book and sent it off to Wiley, which has given me a little more time for other projects (including this blog). I have completed posting the complimentary historical COT data files as well as the weekly printed reports under the “COT Data” tab at the top of the page. This data is [...]

No data until Monday July 9 afternoon. I’ll post updated charts by Monday evening.
Take the weekend off, you deserve it.

Add Bank of Montreal to the list of casualties in the natural gas pit. BMO Financial Group reported lost between C$350 million and C$450 million speculating in out-of-the-money natural gas options. Fortunately this was only $400 million in real money. In terms of natural gas debacles, this is a small one compared to the $6.5 [...]

The Commitments of Traders report for Feb. 20 (released Feb. 23, 2007) showed a the “smart money” commercials holding preponderance of short contracts compared to their long positions. This pattern was very similar to the one that signaled the March 2000 market top. This signal got a prompt reaction as Tuesday, Feb. 27 was big [...]