Positioning
Swap dealers
Swap dealers are a COT category of participants, often banks, who deal in swaps and use futures to manage the resulting risk. Their positioning reflects client flow and risk intermediation rather than a clean directional view.
Swap dealers are a trader category in the disaggregated COT report, typically banks and dealers who enter swaps with clients and then use futures to hedge the risk they take on. In gold and silver, their futures positions partly mirror the flow they intermediate.
For a trader, swap-dealer positioning can offer insight into risk transfer and client-driven flow in the market, complementing the managed-money and commercial categories.
It is not a clean directional investor bucket and not a shortcut to trader intent. Because swap-dealer positions reflect intermediation as much as any house view, they are read as one part of the positioning picture rather than a standalone signal of where price is headed.
Put it to work
Educational reference only. Definitions describe how traders use these concepts and are not investment advice or a recommendation to trade.