Cotton COT Report
The Commitment of Traders (COT) report shows how the largest traders are positioned in Cotton futures each week. The CFTC splits open interest into speculators (managed money) and commercial hedgers, so you can see who is leaning which way. Tracking when Cotton speculative positioning reaches an extreme, and how speculators line up against commercials, is one of the most widely followed sentiment tools in futures.
What drives Cotton positioning
In softs, weather and origin-country supply shocks drive sentiment, and Cotton speculative positioning can swing hard around harvests and shipping disruptions. Cotton positioning is sensitive to US export demand, notably from China, weather in the US cotton belt and the apparel demand cycle.
How to read the Cotton COT report
In Cotton, the 52-week z-score shows how far speculators have stretched from the prior year, with high positive readings crowded long and deeply negative ones crowded short. Softs swing hard on supply and weather, so confirm an extreme against the positioning regime before assuming a turn. Spec positioning swings on export-sales surprises and weather, and extremes can persist through a strong demand trend. New to the report? Start with how to read the COT report.
COTInsight scores Cotton on nine analytical layers every week, the moment the CFTC data lands: the 52-week z-score, the 3-year COT Index, regime classification, price-versus-positioning divergence, open-interest trend and more, with up to ten years of history so you can see how today compares to every prior extreme.
Cotton COT report FAQ
Which CFTC report covers Cotton?
Cotton positioning comes from the CFTC Disaggregated Commitments of Traders report, which splits Cotton open interest into Producer/Merchant/Processor/User and Swap Dealer hedgers on one side and Managed Money and Other Reportables on the other. COTInsight reads it directly from the CFTC every week.
When is the Cotton COT report updated?
The CFTC releases the Commitments of Traders report every Friday at 3:30pm ET, reflecting positions as of the prior Tuesday. COTInsight recomputes the Cotton z-score, COT Index and regime the moment the data lands.
Is Cotton COT positioning bullish or bearish right now?
The COT report is a positioning and sentiment gauge, not a direct buy or sell signal: it shows whether speculators are crowded long or short in Cotton. COTInsight scores this week's Cotton reading on a 52-week z-score, a 3-year COT Index and a positioning regime. Start a free 7-day trial to see the current reading.
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- Z-score, COT Index and regime classifier
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