Commitment of Traders (COT)

The Commitment of Traders (COT) report is published weekly by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It breaks down open positions in futures markets, including COMEX gold and silver, into categories of traders so the market can see who is long and who is short.

For a bullion trader, COT is a positioning lens that price alone does not show. By tracking how commercials, managed money, swap dealers, and other reportables shift week to week, a trader can gauge crowding, sponsorship of a trend, and where positioning sits versus history.

The report is released with a lag and reflects a snapshot, not live data, and its categories organize positions without revealing exact intent. COT is read as context to combine with price, open interest, and macro events rather than as a standalone timing signal.