COT (Commitments of Traders) is a weekly report by the US regulator CFTC on the positions of futures market participants. Open interest in CME data is a daily figure for the number of open contracts, including every options strike. Both answer the question “where are the positions”, but from different angles: COT shows who holds positions, CME open interest shows at which prices they sit.
In short: COT is a portrait of participants, open interest by strike is a map of prices. A trader can read them together, but should not confuse them.
What the COT report is
The CFTC collects data from large traders and usually publishes it on Fridays; the figures refer to the Tuesday of that week. Open interest in the report is split by trader group. In the “legacy” format these are commercial traders (hedgers) and non-commercial traders (speculators). Extended formats are more detailed: for commodity markets — producers and merchants, swap dealers, managed money; for financial markets — dealers, asset managers, leveraged funds.
The main value of COT is seeing the structure of the market: who is long, who is short, and how that has changed over months. The report covers futures, and in the “Futures and Options Combined” variant futures together with options, but without a breakdown by strike.
What open interest means in CME data
Open interest is the number of open, not yet closed contracts. CME publishes it every trading day in its bulletin: for futures and for every strike and expiration of options, calls and puts separately, with the daily change. From these figures come option walls, Max Pain, PCR and open-interest flows.
The bulletin does not say who is behind the positions: it can be a hedge of a large portfolio, part of a spread or a stand-alone idea. That is where COT helps — at least in the form of participant groups.
Side by side
- Source. COT — the CFTC regulator; open interest by strike — the CME exchange.
- Frequency. COT — once a week, data as of Tuesday; CME bulletin — every trading day.
- What you see. COT — positions by participant group; the bulletin — positions by price (strike) and expiration.
- Options. In COT, options appear only in aggregate, with no strikes; in the bulletin every strike is separate.
- Use. COT helps with the general background and the mix of participants; open interest by strike shows at which prices positions are concentrated ahead of the nearest expirations.
How to read them together
- Background from COT. See how the position structure has changed over recent weeks: is the share of one group growing, where are the yearly extremes. This is general context, not a trading decision.
- Prices from open interest. On the chart, find the strikes with the largest open interest near price, Max Pain and the ±1σ expected-move borders of the nearest series.
- Mind the different freshness. COT lags by several days, the CME bulletin by one day. If the market moved a lot after Tuesday, the COT picture may already have changed.
- Match the scale. COT is about the whole market of an instrument (all expirations at once); option levels are about specific series and dates.
Limits of both sources
- Neither gives a buy or sell signal: they describe positions and do not forecast direction.
- Open interest counts contracts and does not distinguish buyer from seller; the COT groups are a simplified classification, and one participant can hedge and speculate at the same time.
- Both reports come with a delay: positions change within the day.
- Not every market with CME open interest is represented equally fully in COT, and vice versa.
Where this shows on the chart
The OLIMP indicator takes the daily CME data and draws Max Pain, walls, the expected move and open-interest flows right on the MetaTrader 5 chart. Current values by market are in the Analytics section, for example gold and the S&P 500. How to read open interest by strike is covered in Open interest: what it is and how to read it.
Questions and answers
COT or open interest — which matters more?
They answer different questions. COT — who holds positions (weekly); open interest by strike — at which prices they sit (daily). Option levels need the second; COT is additional background.
When is COT published?
Usually on Fridays; the data refer to Tuesday. In holiday weeks the schedule shifts — see the CFTC website for the current calendar.
Does COT include option strikes?
No. Options appear there only in aggregate (“Futures and Options Combined”); the breakdown by strike comes from the exchange bulletin.
Can you build levels from COT?
COT contains no price levels: it describes the mix of participants, not prices. Price reference points come from exchange data — strikes, Max Pain, expected move.
This article describes open positions based on regulator and exchange data and is not investment advice.