COT report (Commitments of Traders)
The CFTC's COT report details each week the positions of the main groups of participants in US futures markets.
Published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, it shows positions as of the previous Tuesday. It covers futures on currencies, indices, rates and commodities traded in the US.
Traders mainly follow the net positions of speculators (non-commercials or asset managers) and of commercials, who hedge real business activity. Extreme speculative positioning can signal a market heavily loaded on one side, vulnerable to a reversal.
The COT is a context tool, several days old by the time it comes out. It gives no entry point, but helps spot sentiment extremes over horizons of several weeks.