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����� About Free COT Charts
���� �Free COT Charts is a website devoted to charting the weekly Commitments of Traders or "COT".� The net positions of these commitments are what's actually plotted, that is, the long positions minus the short positions = the net positions.� These numbers are provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or "CFTC".� Each Friday the CFTC issues that weeks commitments which reflects the previous Tuesdays positions of 3 trading groups.� The CFTC classifies these 3 groups of traders as follows.
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Commercials - Producers and end users of the commodity or futures market they participate in are referred to as commercials.� This group is the reason the commodity and futures markets exist, to allow "commercials" an opportunity to defer or hedge the risk of doing business.� Free COT Charts plots commercials net positions (shown as comm) in blue.� (This smart money group will often get aggressively net long or short prior to major trends)� A horizontal line is drawn to show the zero line of the commercials net positions.
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Large Speculators - Defined as those traders who hold a specified number of contracts or greater in a given market, but are not commercial traders.� The CFTC sets the minimum number of contracts that can be held before the speculator is required to report that position.� Any speculator participating in a market that is required to report to the CFTC is known as a non-commercial or large trader. Free COT Charts plots large traders net positions (shown as large) in green. (This group follows trends and usually mimics the markets price movement)� A horizontal line is drawn to show the zero line of the large traders net positions.
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Small Speculators - Any market participant who is neither a commercial nor non-commercial is a small speculator.� This group is not required to report to the CFTC but can determined by the contracts left over after the commercials and non-commercials have been accounted for.� Free COT charts plots small speculators net positions (shown as specs) in red. (This over-leveraged group is usually wrong at major turning points)� A horizontal line is drawn to show the zero line of the small speculators net positions.
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