Reading Legacy Commitment of Traders Data for Futures Markets
Summary
This indicator presents selected metrics from the CFTC’s Legacy Commitment of Traders report as a time series. Users can choose measures such as open interest, trader counts, and long, short, or spreading positions for noncommercial and commercial categories, as well as position concentration. The report classifies reportable positions by trader type, including commercial traders whose futures positions are used for hedging.
Inputs select the metric, direction, report type, and whether the series represents futures, options, or their combined data. The indicator can identify a market from the chart symbol or accept a custom CFTC code. For options-only values, it subtracts futures-only data from the combined futures-and-options series. The display uses a step line and shows the selected data identifier. COT figures are weekly positioning measures, so they provide context on market participation rather than a real-time entry signal; the document describes data selection and display, not a trading strategy or performance test.
Key ideas
- The Legacy report divides reportable positions into commercial and noncommercial trader groups.
- Available metrics include open interest, directional positions, trader counts, and position concentration.
- Users can choose futures, options, or combined figures, with options-only values derived by subtraction.
- COT observations are weekly and describe positioning rather than intraday price action.
Tags
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.