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The COT Index tells you how crowded a position is. Positioning structure tells you who is holding it. Every week the CFTC publishes the number of speculative traders in each market, and its own measure of how much open interest the four and eight largest traders hold. Almost no COT tool surfaces either. COTInsight reports top-4 trader concentration ranked against that contract's own three-year history, available on 340 of the 344 markets scored on the 1 September 2026 report, plus the speculative trader count and the average position size per trader wherever the CFTC discloses them. It frequently does not: the CFTC writes a suppression marker instead of a count when too few traders hold a position to publish the number, which covered 189 of those 344 markets, and we withhold the count there rather than print a zero. Where the speculative split is suppressed we show the count of all reporting traders in the contract instead. Why it matters: on 1 September 2026 corn and wheat both read a COT Index of 100, maximum crowding, but corn's trader concentration sat in the 65th percentile of its own record while wheat's sat in the 5th. One was held in a few large hands, the other spread wide, and a dashboard showing only the index renders those two identically. Ultimate only, and descriptive: it reports market structure, it does not forecast direction.

Directly from the regulators and exchanges themselves. No data vendor is involved. Most of the book comes from cftc.gov, the official US regulator: every Friday the CFTC releases the Commitments of Traders report, and COTInsight processes both the Disaggregated and Financial Traders formats. Markets that report to the UK FCA rather than the CFTC come from ICE Futures Europe's own Commitments of Traders publication. EU contracts come from the weekly MiFID II Article 58 position reports that EU venues file and ESMA republishes free of charge at registers.esma.europa.eu; COTInsight regroups ESMA's position categories into its own columns and calculates its own statistics from them, and ESMA does not endorse COTInsight.

The CFTC publishes data as of each Tuesday's close, released on the following Friday afternoon (US Eastern time). ICE Futures Europe reports its own Commitments of Traders against the same Tuesday snapshot and publishes it a couple of hours earlier the same Friday. COTInsight refreshes automatically on Friday evening once the CFTC release is confirmed, so both arrive together in one update and the dashboard never mixes a fresh week with a stale one.

Markets crowd. Crowds unwind. The CFTC data shows exactly when that crowding is reaching historical extremes, not as a gut feeling, but as a measurable number across a decade of history. It won't tell you when. What it gives you is an objective read on where the weight is sitting. Macro funds have used this for decades. We just make it accessible.

The z-score measures how extreme speculative net positioning is relative to the past 52 weeks. A z-score above +1.5 (or below −1.5) means speculators are near a 52-week extreme, a level many traders treat as a contrarian signal. Alerts fire at this threshold and are visible across the heatmap and instrument list. Whether extremes actually revert depends on the instrument and context; the historical outcome stats (Ultimate) let you evaluate the actual track record.

The COT Index (0–100) shows where current net speculative positioning sits within its 3-year range: a percentile rank, not a directional forecast. A reading near 0 means positioning is close to a 3-year low; near 100 means close to a 3-year high. It complements the z-score by providing longer-term context on how stretched positioning is relative to recent history.

Each instrument is assigned one of eight regime labels based on z-score level, momentum, and flow direction: Extreme Long, Building Long, Distributing, Flip Zone, Neutral, Accumulating, Building Short, or Extreme Short. Regime detection captures both the magnitude and the direction of positioning change, not just the absolute level.

Divergence fires when price and speculative positioning move in opposite directions over a 12-week window. For example, price rising while speculative exposure is being reduced (Bearish Divergence), or price falling while specs accumulate (Bullish Divergence). It is one of nine analytical outputs computed per instrument, alongside z-score, COT Index, momentum, regime, OI trend, small-spec extreme, participant breakdown, and historical outcomes.

For each instrument that has a price series, Ultimate subscribers see a table of historical forward-return outcomes broken down by seven z-score buckets:

• z ≥ 2.0: extreme spec long
• 1.5 ≤ z < 2.0: strong spec long
• 0.5 ≤ z < 1.5: mild spec long
• −0.5 ≤ z < 0.5: neutral
• −1.5 ≤ z < −0.5: mild spec short
• −2.0 ≤ z < −1.5: strong spec short
• z < −2.0: extreme spec short

For each bucket, the table shows how often price was higher and the average % return at three forward horizons: 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks (measured in COT release weeks from the signal date). Every row means the same thing on both sides of the book: the share of past cases in which price was higher at the end of the window. N = number of historical observations in that bucket.

Stats are computed from the full available history (up to 20 years for major instruments) where a price series exists. Instruments without a mapped price ticker show no outcome data. This reflects actual past data only. It is descriptive, not a forecast or guarantee of future results. Always apply your own judgment.

The CFTC publishes two COT datasets for every market, commodities and financials alike: one that combines futures and options positions, and one that covers only outright futures. By default, COTInsight uses the combined report, which captures the full institutional footprint. The Futures Only toggle (available to Ultimate subscribers) switches every market to the futures-only dataset, letting you strip out options positioning and focus purely on directional futures commitment.

This matters most in heavily optioned markets like crude oil, gold, corn, and coffee, where options hedging books can skew the combined picture. Financial markets (FX, indices, rates, crypto) work the same way: they default to the combined report and the toggle switches them to futures only. Contracts with no options trading show identical figures in both views.

Every position figure in the default view already includes options on futures. The options exposure panel separates that component out, so you can see what share of a market's open interest sits in options and how much the options leg moves the net positioning read. In crude oil, corn, sugar and the E-mini S&P it runs above a quarter of open interest and can shift the net figure by a third; in natural gas it is under one percent and changes nothing.

The CFTC publishes no options-only report, so these numbers are the combined report minus the futures-only report. That is the CFTC's delta-adjusted futures-equivalent options exposure, not a count of option contracts.

Yes, for every market. Commodities and financials both use the CFTC futures-and-options-combined report, so every position figure (open interest, managed money or leveraged funds, commercials, swap dealers) reflects outright futures and options on futures together. Ultimate subscribers can switch to the Futures Only view to strip options out, and can see the options component on its own.

The forward curve shows the full price structure across up to 24 monthly futures contracts, revealing whether the market is in contango (deferred contracts priced higher than nearby) or backwardation (deferred contracts priced lower), with an automatic structure label and front-to-back slope percentage.

The view includes:
• Term structure chart: the curve shape with the most-liquid (highest-volume) contract marked. A ghost line shows how the curve has shifted since the last refresh when that data is available.
• Contract table: per-contract Last price, daily Chg%, High, Low, Open Interest, and Volume across all active delivery months.
• Calendar spreads: every consecutive month-pair spread (e.g. Jul→Aug, Aug→Sep) shown as absolute and percentage values, color-coded by sign.

In VS comparison mode, both forward curves are overlaid on the same chart, normalized to the front-month price so the structural shape of two correlated markets can be compared directly. The status line also shows the raw front-price spread and slope differential between the two instruments (e.g. WTI vs Brent, Gold vs Silver).

19 available markets:
Energy: WTI Crude Oil · Brent Crude Oil · Natural Gas · RBOB Gasoline
Metals: Gold · Silver · Copper · Platinum
Grains: Corn · Soybeans · Chicago Wheat · KC Wheat · Soybean Oil
Softs: Cotton · Sugar · Coffee · Cocoa
Livestock: Live Cattle · Lean Hogs

Curve data is fetched live from exchange prices and cached for four hours. At least 3 active monthly contracts are required; instruments with insufficient liquidity return no data.

No. Your 7-day trial gives full dashboard access to all 350+ instruments, 10-year history, and every signal, with no payment information required at signup. CSV export is included but limited during the trial (the most-traded markets are excluded); the full CSV report covering every market is available on Pro and Ultimate. PDF reports, AI commentary, outcome stats, full historical archive, and API access are Ultimate features not included in the trial. You'll only be asked for billing details if you decide to subscribe.

Access ends. There is no degraded free tier. COTInsight requires an active subscription after the trial. Subscribe to Pro or Ultimate at any time to restore access.

Yes. Open Account → Upgrade and the change happens instantly. You pay only the proportional difference for the time remaining on your current billing period, nothing more. Your next renewal date and billing cycle do not change.

Yes. Downgrade through the billing portal. You keep Ultimate access until the end of your current paid period, then renew at the Pro rate. Downgrades do not entitle you to any partial refund for unused time.

You pay for 10 months up front and get 12 months of access, equivalent to 2 months free. Pro annual is $290/yr (~$24/mo); Ultimate annual is $490/yr (~$41/mo). The full amount is charged once at signup and again at each annual renewal.

Cancel from the billing portal at any time, no hoops and no waiting. Access continues until the end of your current paid period. We do not offer partial refunds on active subscription periods.

After subscribing to Ultimate, go to Account settings and enter your TradingView username. You'll be added to the indicator's invite-only access list within 24 hours. Once approved, search for COTInsight — COT Dashboard in TradingView's Indicators menu and add it to any weekly chart, up to three times for all three panels.

The indicator reads TradingView's built-in CFTC COT data series (no external connection required) and computes z-score, COT Index, momentum, regime, OI trend, divergence, and streak using the same algorithm as the dashboard. It auto-detects your chart symbol and maps it to the correct CFTC series for 99 chart symbols across 55 CFTC markets. That mapping is why a Brent chart works: UKOIL, BCOUSD and BZ1! all resolve to the CFTC's NYMEX Brent contract, so you get a full reading on a Brent chart from any data provider. The dashboard goes further on a few markets that TradingView publishes no COT series for: ICE Futures Europe (ICE Brent, gasoil, robusta coffee, white sugar, London cocoa). Those are dashboard and export only. If your subscription lapses, your TV access is removed.

Works on any TradingView plan, including the free tier.

Read the full indicator guide →

No. The indicator works on any TradingView plan, including the free tier. It is published as an invite-only script, which means only subscribers you approve can see and use it; TradingView's own plan level does not affect that. The indicator reads from TradingView's built-in CFTC COT data series, no external data connection or subscription is required on the TV side. The only requirement is an active COTInsight Ultimate subscription and your TradingView username saved in your account settings.

Free trial: a limited CSV export. The most-traded markets are excluded (you still see every market in the dashboard). Pro and above: the full CSV export of all current weekly results across every market, including every signal field. Ultimate additionally unlocks: PDF briefing reports, full historical archive ZIP (up to 20 years of weekly history per instrument), VS instrument comparison, and REST API access for programmatic integration.

Your personal API key and a full integration guide, including curl and Python examples, is available inside the app under Account → API Key once you subscribe to Ultimate. The key is permanent and unique to your account.

The Radars are an Ultimate feature that sets each market's positioning beside its own physical fundamentals, in three families. Energy Radar reads WTI, natural gas, RBOB gasoline and NY Harbor ULSD against weekly EIA inventories, storage and flows, each against its 5-year seasonal band. Grain Radar reads corn, soybeans and wheat against USDA's monthly WASDE balance sheet and how each outlook revised the one before. Gas Radar reads Dutch TTF against EU gas storage from GIE. Every panel uses its own market's COT Index, never another market's. It states where each sits, not what that means for price.

Positioning comes from the CFTC Commitment of Traders report, and for TTF from ESMA's Article 58 weekly position register. Oil fundamentals come from the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report and gas fundamentals from the EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, with degree days and forecast revisions from the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook. Grain fundamentals come from USDA's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, and EU storage from Gas Infrastructure Europe's AGSI+ platform. All are free public sources. Weekly series are compared to their own 5-year seasonal band for the same week of the year.

No. The Radars do not forecast price and state no win rate, price target, or edge. It reports a measured base rate only where the historical record clears our own bar for sample size and statistical significance; today that is true for two of fourteen energy relationships we have tested; Grain and Gas Radar carry none. Every other reading is shown with its current position and no direction attached.

8 markets in three families, each panel reading its own market's positioning. Energy Radar: WTI against 41 crude and refined-product series, Cushing, the SPR and imports by origin among them; natural gas against 12: storage for the Lower 48 and its five regions, the salt and nonsalt split, Henry Hub spot, and monthly dry gas production, LNG exports and consumption; RBOB gasoline against 14; NY Harbor ULSD against 16. 65 EIA series in total, the product panels drawing on the crude slate where it applies. Grain Radar: corn, soybeans and wheat, each against 4 lines of USDA's monthly WASDE balance sheet. Gas Radar: Dutch TTF, positioning from ESMA's Article 58 register, against 3 EU gas storage series from GIE.

Yes. 19 EU contracts come from the weekly MiFID II Article 58 position reports that EU venues file and ESMA republishes free of charge at registers.esma.europa.eu: EU carbon on EEX and ICE Endex, Dutch TTF (ICE Endex and EEX), German THE and Italian PSV gas, German (EEX and ICE Endex), French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Belgian and Swiss power plus German peak, and Capesize, Supramax and Panamax freight. COTInsight regroups ESMA's categories into its own columns. There is no price series for these contracts, so they carry no divergence flag and no outcome statistics.

Plans are for personal, non-commercial use: your own research and your own trading. Using the Service, its data, commentary, indicators, exports or API for an employer, a fund, clients, or in any product or service you provide to others needs a separate commercial licence. Contact support@cotinsight.com to request one.

No. COTInsight is an informational data tool only. The signals and statistics are derived from public CFTC data and do not constitute investment advice, trading recommendations, or financial guidance of any kind. Read the Risk Disclaimer before trading.

About 360 markets report every week: 345 in the CFTC and ICE Futures Europe reports plus 19 EU contracts from ESMA. They span energy, power, carbon, freight, metals, grains, softs, livestock, FX, equity indices, rates and crypto. Behind them sit more than 600 instruments with weekly history back to 13 June 2006, the first Disaggregated and Traders in Financial Futures report the CFTC published; the difference is contracts that have stopped reporting, kept for their history and hidden behind one toggle. Coverage is the CFTC Disaggregated and TFF reports, the Supplemental index-trader report on 13 agricultural markets, the ICE Futures Europe Commitments of Traders, and the weekly MiFID II Article 58 position reports that EU venues file and ESMA republishes free of charge at registers.esma.europa.eu.