Hi everyone! This thread I’m just opening, would like to share ideas about trading in the futures market using a simple but very effective tool, the Commitments of Traders report. I would be very much interested in your experiences and thoughts about this data and how it has helped your trading! Personally I have first seen this data set roughly five years ago, and “fell in love with it” right away! The concept that amused me at the time was that with this COT report you get a legal inside look in the markets --> you get to know what the main participants of these markets are doing! If you are new to this report, let me explain to you the basics: Who provides the COT report? The report is prepared by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) What does COT report show me? The Commitments of Traders (COT) reports provide a breakdown of each Tuesday’s open interest for markets in which 20 or more traders hold positions equal to or above the reporting levels established by the CFTC. It separates traders into three groups: Commercials, Large Speculators and Small Speculators. Commercials are those participants of the market who either produce that specific commodity or use it for the daily business. Large Speculators are generally big investors, hedge funds holding more contracts than the reporting limits, Small Speculators are the “rest” (you and me, who hold fewer contracts than the reporting limit. Conclusion: So basically the report shows you where these participants are standing on Tuesdays. For an illustrated good explanation, I’ve found this video on YouTube, it explains everything in understandable English what the Commitments of Traders report is about. When does the report come out and where can I access it? It comes out usually on Fridays, but on holidays (such as 4th of July) it comes out usually the next week Monday. This is a free data that CFTC publishes every week and is accessible on it’s site. For many years I had to go through a relatively difficult process of first downloading the COT data, converting it to usable format and then importing it in adequate program. If you check CFTC’s site, you will find that the data there is in a raw format that is hard to read… Well these days there are a few services that provide this data in an easily readable, graphical format. I’ve checked most of them, I think this one can be considered the best. I like it because it has the cleanest data available (combined and corrected data) and all the COT report types that are available today! Let’s get down to business… How does the COT report help my trading? Well since now we know that it gives you a legal insight on major market participants positions, simply – in accordance with the threads title – you just have to follow the Smart Money! Ok-ok… you might say: “yeah, sure, but who is the smart money?” Well doing your homework and studying the historical reports (the classic COT report has been published since 1986), you will easily see that at certain times, especially in extreme COT situations, knowing where the major players are positioned, will help you enter on the right side of the market. I’ll show you some great examples soon, but for now, let me leave the “story” at this stage, I would be very much interested in your thoughts and ideas, so please share them with me and if you have any questions, I’ll try my very best to answer them! All the best, D
COT EXTREME signals I think one of the best tools in COT analysis is the COT Extremes. It basically shows you where the given COT level stands historically. So if a reading says 93 for example, then it means that the current level of Open Interest for a given market participant (C-LS-SS) is at such level, where it stood exactly 93 reports ago. My experience is, that the larger this COT extreme is, the greater the chance is for the market to change direction. There are so called ‘All-Time Extremes’ when the given group of traders have never stood at that level before. These are relatively rare situations, but they do happen from time to time. It the following example, which is for Soybeans, I’ll show you how the Commercials Extremes can help you find turning points in the market. The red lines are indicating points in time, when the COT picture showed an opportunity to short the market, while the green ones are indicating good buy opportunities. The example I’m showing you now is from late April, this year, when there was an All-Times COT Extreme picture -> Commercials were at All-Time short levels, while Large Speculators were never so optimistic about the market. In this case, Small Speculators were more or less neutral in the sense that they were not at an extreme level. The reason I’m showing you this example is because just today, I have checked the most recent COT report and I found an even greater All-Time signal. The difference between the two picture is that today, the Small Speculators are also at an extreme level. The reason I’m so excited about this, is because I think those are the best COT Extreme pictures, when all three main participants are at Extreme levels in the positions they’re holding. I’m not say that trading only on COT signal is easy, but one thing’s for sure: sooner or later there will be (or there is already!) such a stress level in soybeans that will push prices lower. Stay tuned, I'll be coming back with some more example shortly! Meanwhile, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Sorry, but I don't know how I could upload two images at the same time, so I'm uplodaing the second one here!
There is a paper on a system trading sp based on similar concept : http://www.google.pl/url?sa=t&rct=j...fxQwltPIo-UPmY2zw&sig2=Nc4XnfMZ1wnAA9BLGd5LxA no idea if it's working now..
EXTREME COT CHANGES The title sounds similar to the previous post, the difference here is that we are looking at sudden large changes in the positions held by the main participants of the markets (C-LS-SS). To give you a great example, let me show you an example from 2010 on the oats market. Actually here I can show you a Buy and a Sell signal from Commercials close to each other in time. If you look carefully, you could see that the two circled changes are much greater than the surrounding changes that can be considered average size changes. Obviously the green circle is indicating a Buy, the red circle a Sell signal. Before I had to check each and every market week-by-week and search for these large movements… these days I rely on programs that do it for me. If you would like an easy solution, use a service that can show you these signals. The one I’m using now does it by taking the current change and compares it to a pre-defined range. The good thing about it, is that I have the option of defining the range myself, example: for one year range, all-time range or even 43 weeks range (!) if that’s my desire. Let me show this on last week's report on RBOB Gasoline: The system was showing me the changes on a 52 week (1 year) time period. It showed that Commercials have changed their net short level and went even more short. This change was 10%. What does it mean? Well I’ve drawn the 100% with purple and the chart is set to show the past 1 year. I’ve indicated (with red) the 10% change, which is measured to this 100% total range. It’s that simple. Now obviously if you’re using such a system, all you need to do is let the system search automatically for the largest changes that happened and then you only need to analyze those and see whether there is an opportunity to get in the market or not.
if it's that simple how about you give us a couple of real time calls? wouldn't it be better to first show us real time entries & exits and upon this /provided it's successful/ formulate your theory/concept ? somehow it's most of the time the other way around ... if you were me / or any other reader/ how would you like to have it ? but maybe I'm too skeptical and there will be real time calls
Hi Vinc, I’m very glad, that you are following my thread and as I can see it, you are interested in COT analysis. I don’t want to disappoint you, but I would strictly like to avoid any suggestion of a complete system / formula. COT analysis is only one tool that can be helpful in reaching better trading results. It can be applied in an existing system as a confirmation tool, or the other way around, using it as a timing tool but for exact entries or exits, it should be accompanied by the system used. If I would suggest entries & exits as you requested, I would be narrowing down the usage of it to one type of time frame and tactic, which could leave out other great trades on different time basis and different strategies. What I mean by this, is that there are traders out there, who might be trading on shorter time frame, for example only on forex or a trader who prefers options on metal markets and on a longer time frame (from few weeks up to a couple of months) and they will be viewing the specific “formula” from different angles. A lot of traders out there still do not have an idea, or might not even heard about Commitments of Traders Report. My goal is to introduce them to it and teach them the basis of COT analysis. After that it is the challenge of each viewer of my thread to do his or her historical analysis and back test their system with the integrated COT report. Of course I do not wish to leave you without a “treat” so I’ll tell you about a short weekly report that I found on YouTube which gathers out each week some top markets were there was some kind of a COT signal and occasionally the report suggests a direction to trade the suggested market. You can check these reports (they call them weekly reviews) over here. The other thing I could offer you is give you my opinion about specific trades if you post them here. If you have an idea about a trade and would like to ask, what the COT report tells, than I could give assistance in that. Thanks again for your post; I hope you’ll stick around! Have a great day, good luck to your trading, Dunstan
COT Index In the following example I would like to explain to you another great COT analysis tool, the COT Index. It is also a measuring “device” for extreme pictures in the Commitments of Traders report, but here the Index shows us in percentage – compared to a specific time period – how far we are from the range. In the following example (on Corn), I’m showing you what the 95% COT Index in Small Speculators means. I set the chart to show a three year period and I set the COT Index to for the same period. I drew the 0% and 100% lines so it’s easier to see what this 95% means. If you look carefully, when Small Speculators were close to 100%, prices declined shortly afterwards. When Small Speculators were closer to 0%, prices soon started to increase.