Live Cattle COT Report
The Commitment of Traders (COT) report shows how the largest traders are positioned in Live Cattle 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 Live Cattle 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 Live Cattle positioning
In livestock, packers and producers hedge along the feed and herd cycle, and Live Cattle speculative positioning tends to track that cycle. Live cattle positioning follows the herd cycle, feed (corn) costs, beef demand and placements. The commercials are packers and feedlots hedging the chain.
How to read the Live Cattle COT report
For Live Cattle, the 52-week z-score measures how far positioning sits from its one-year average across the herd and feed cycle: high positive is crowded long, deeply negative crowded short. Pair it with the positioning regime to judge whether the cyclical move is still trending or stretched. Cattle positioning tracks a slow herd cycle, so speculative extremes carry a seasonal and cyclical signature. New to this? Start with how to read the COT report.
COTInsight scores Live Cattle 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.
Live Cattle COT report FAQ
Which CFTC report covers Live Cattle?
Live Cattle positioning comes from the CFTC Disaggregated Commitments of Traders report, which splits Live Cattle 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 Live Cattle 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 Live Cattle z-score, COT Index and regime the moment the data lands.
Is Live Cattle 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 Live Cattle. COTInsight scores this week's Live Cattle 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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- 10-year positioning history
- Z-score, COT Index and regime classifier
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