Commitments of Traders
Commitments of Traders
(CFTC COT Reports)
Each Friday at 3:30 pm EST, the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) publishes the Commitments of Traders (COT) reports. These are not economic reports and provide a breakdown of each Tuesday’s open interest (futures or futures options) for markets in which 20 or more traders hold positions equal to or above the reporting levels established by the CFTC.
One of these reports covers open interest in fx futures traded on CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange). Looking at the report can provide some insight into how traders are biased toward any specific currency.
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EURO FX – CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE Code-099741
OPTION AND FUTURES COMBINED POSITIONS AS OF 01/26/10
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NON-COMMERCIAL | COMMERCIAL | TOTAL |
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Long | Short |Spreads | Long | Short | Long | Short |
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(CONTRACTS OF EUR 125,000) OPEN INTEREST: 226,485
COMMITMENTS
32,402 68,799 31,095 113,551 75,708 177,047 175,601
CHANGES FROM 01/19/10 (CHANGE IN OPEN INTEREST: 31,476)
-3,724 9,545 9,385 29,001 9,874 34,662 28,804
PERCENT OF OPEN INTEREST FOR EACH CATEGORY OF TRADER
14.3 30.4 13.7 50.1 33.4 78.2 77.5
NUMBER OF TRADERS IN EACH CATEGORY
(TOTAL TRADERS: 155)
45 56 46 36 37 107 113
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Excerpt from COT CME report regarding EURO FX futures
Source: The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Use of COT reports makes perfect sense, although there are some strings attached that you should be aware of prior to deciding whether to use it. Read one of the complete courses available on this site to find out more.
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