Reklāma
Platinum Commitments of Traders Data (COT)
Commitments of traders
What is the CFTC?
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent entity within the United States government responsible for overseeing and controlling futures and options markets. One of its functions is to provide transparency in the financial markets by publishing the Commitment of Traders report.
What is the Commitment of Traders (COT) Report?
The CFTC releases a weekly report known as the COT report, published every Friday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. The COT data is collected from futures exchanges, where traders are required to report their positions to the CFTC.
This information is then compiled and published in the COT reports, which are widely used by analysts, traders, and investors to gauge market sentiment, identify potential trend reversals, and assess the overall positioning of different market participants.
Traders Categorization
The Traders in Financial Futures (TFF) report, an extension of the Commitments of Traders (COT) reports provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), offers a detailed breakdown of market participants, by categorizing them into "sell side" and "buy side".
Sell-Side Participant
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Dealer/Intermediary - Representing the "sell side", these participants, often large banks both within and outside the United States, design and sell various financial assets to clients. While they may not predominantly sell futures, futures contracts play a vital role in pricing and balancing the risk associated with the diverse range of financial products they manage.
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Buy-Side Participants
The "buy side" of the market is divided into three distinct categories in the TFF report:
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Asset Manager/Institutional - Institutional investors, including pension funds, mutual funds, and insurance companies, form the core of this category. Their trading activities reflect long-term investment strategies aimed at optimizing portfolio performance and managing client assets.
- Leveraged Funds - Comprising hedge funds and various money managers engage in strategies that may involve outright positions or arbitrage within and across markets. These funds manage proprietary futures trading and trade on behalf of speculative clients.
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Other Reportables - Traders falling outside the first three categories are placed in the "other reportable" category. This includes entities like corporate treasuries, central banks, smaller banks, mortgage originators, and credit unions. Their primary use of markets lies in hedging business risk related to foreign exchange, equities, or interest rates.
What is Open Interest?
Open Interest is the total number of contracts that have not been settled, closed, or executed. In other words, it represents the total number of contracts that market participants hold at any given point in time. Mbr< With the Commitment of Traders (COT) report, open interest data provides valuable insights into market sentiment and trader positioning. By analyzing the open interest data provided in the COT report, traders and analysts can gain insights into the overall sentiment of the market and the positioning of different types of traders.
The COT report categorizes traders into Commercial, Non-Commercial (Large Speculators), and Non-Reportable (Small Speculators) groups. Net positions for each category are calculated as follows:
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Net Commercials position = Commercial long - Commercial short
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Net Large Speculator position = Non-commercial long - Non-commercial short
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Net Small Speculator position = Non-reportable long - Non-reportable short
