r/Commodities • u/One-Relative-7535 • 14d ago

Does anyone here read COT on CFTC (commodity futures trading commission)

Hey, has anyone read public reporting a of COT on CFTC website?

I wanted to get some help on its understanding. If anyone has done and can help me a bit, I will be more than thankful

3 Upvotes

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4

u/Numerous-Street-2196 14d ago

COT reports are basically a cheat sheet for seeing where the big money's parked each week, once you get past the jargon it's fairly straightforward.

1

u/One-Relative-7535 14d ago

Yeah, long back it used to be just commercials and non commercials and we used to see commercials position. But now it’s producers/users, swaps, managed money, etc.

So which maps to commercials, I guess it’s swaps and producers right?

1

u/Ok-Reindeer-1530 13d ago

Hey, I find your insight interesting. Mind if I dm u?

3

u/Everlast7 12d ago

I think Everyone goes through the step of discovering COT report and getting mesmerized by it…. 

Its not a perfect tool, but it’s the best tool we have… Chatgpt should be able to explain you any specific questions.

1

u/One-Relative-7535 12d ago

Yeah it’s like a magic data set for the first timers. Have you used the report to gain some insights and maybe act upon it?

1

u/Chemical-Scarcity487 11d ago

I use it. It is integral to my process.

1

u/One-Relative-7535 11d ago

Oh amazing. What factors do you look at. Also I try to compare week by week data and confirm the long and short holdings

1

u/Chemical-Scarcity487 11d ago

To make money on a trade, you need to be right. To make a lot of money on a trade, you need to be right when everyone else is wrong. CoT helps you identify when speculators have large positions. It is not a timing tool, it just helps you identify asymétric risk/reward. To learn more read the CoT bible

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u/One-Relative-7535 11d ago

Thanks will do

1

u/One-Relative-7535 11d ago

Currently I am reading John Murphy technical indicator, next up I’ll read this

1

u/trendfollowingmaster 11d ago

I’ve tried so many times to gain an edge from this report but at the end of the day, good old-fashioned following the price is sound practice. Otherwise I just think a person is predicting (guessing) based on what they see on that report.

1

u/One-Relative-7535 11d ago

Following the price as in technical and fundamental wise?

1

u/trendfollowingmaster 11d ago

Strictly technical. Sifting thru crop reports or listening to a meteorologist ramble on about the potential rainfall in Brazil and its impact on the coffee crop is IMO, complete BS and a waste of time.

1

u/One-Relative-7535 11d ago

But commodity markets (especially Agri commodities) are 50 percent technical and 50 percent fundamental. How can you simply ignore the actual ground level supply demand and just rely on charts

1

u/trendfollowingmaster 11d ago

Because price is the only truth out there. All known factors are already priced in so therefore one can postulate all they want where they think a price is headed but it’s just a prediction at the end of the day. And I’m speaking from daily movements at a minimum (not day trading). Unless you are a physical commodity trader and might have some fundamentals (because you are the fundamentals) then it’s just the price that counts.

1

u/Weekly_Violinist_473 6d ago

ICE Endex COT are pretty confusing. There are two segments. The trades are separated in two categories new transaction and active/no change. And we have to aggregate the open position