Apex Macro Research

CFTC Positioning Dashboard

An institutional view of who is long, who is short, where positioning is crowded, and whether futures behavior confirms or conflicts with price. Includes net spec, asset manager, hedge fund/leveraged money, retail/non-reportable, commercial/dealer, open interest, gross crowding, z-score, percentile, and week-over-week change lenses.

Assets Covered17
Latest CFTC Data07/21/2026
Core LensAsset Managers + Hedge Funds

Most Crowded Long

Highest 3-year percentile for Asset Manager + Leveraged Money net positioning.

10-Year Treasury Notes100.0%5-Year Treasury Notes97.4%Copper96.2%

Most Crowded Short

Lowest 3-year percentile for Asset Manager + Leveraged Money net positioning.

Nasdaq 1001.9%SOFR-3M3.2%Russell 20005.8%

Price / Positioning Confirmation

Assets where 13-week price action and institutional/HF positioning are moving together.

S&P 5006.6% price / 3.7K posCopper8.1% price / 11.9K posUS Dollar3.7% price / 13.3K pos

All-History COT Net Positioning %OI

Reference-aligned COT ranking across the assets covered in this deck. Ranked by each market's latest net positioning as a percent of open interest versus its full available CFTC history.

AssetMapped COT CohortMapped COT Net %OIMapped COT All-History %ileMapped COT History StartLatest Date
S&P 500Asset Managers47.91%96%2006-06-132026-07-21
CopperManaged Money26.48%93%2006-06-132026-07-21
GoldManaged Money32.56%76%2006-06-132026-07-21
Nasdaq 100Asset Managers25.31%72%2006-06-132026-07-21
BitcoinLeveraged Money-38.72%71%2021-01-052026-07-21
US DollarLeveraged Money-3.59%50%2006-06-132026-07-21
Natural GasManaged Money-6.12%39%2006-06-132026-07-21
Russell 2000Asset Managers-0.22%36%2006-06-132026-07-21
SilverManaged Money10.60%33%2006-06-132026-07-21
Euro FXLegacy Non-Commercial-5.17%32%2000-01-042026-07-21
Japanese YenLegacy Non-Commercial-35.90%21%2000-01-042026-07-21
Crude OilManaged Money3.43%10%2006-06-132026-07-21
2-Year Treasury NotesLegacy Non-Commercial-26.63%10%2000-01-042026-07-21
5-Year Treasury NotesLegacy Non-Commercial-20.69%10%2000-01-042026-07-21
10-Year Treasury NotesLegacy Non-Commercial-16.68%4%2000-01-042026-07-21
SOFR-3MLeveraged Money-20.59%3%2022-01-042026-07-21
VIXAsset Managers-10.48%1%2006-08-292026-07-21

Mapped cohort: Asset Managers for equity-index and VIX futures; Leveraged/Managed Money for all other markets. Net positioning is long contracts minus short contracts, excluding spreads. History begins at the first available CFTC observation for each contract.

Definitions And How To Read The Deck

Plain-English translation of the CFTC labels used throughout the dashboard.

Net Speculative / Non-Commercial

Legacy COT non-commercial long contracts minus short contracts. In physical commodity disaggregated reports, this equals managed money plus other reportables. In TFF markets, this deck uses asset managers + leveraged money + other reportables as the broad speculative proxy.

Institutional/HF Net

Asset manager net plus leveraged money net. For physical commodity disaggregated reports where asset-manager categories are not published, this becomes managed money net.

Asset Manager Net

Asset manager long contracts minus short contracts in the CFTC Traders in Financial Futures report. Think pensions, mutual funds, insurance, and real-money allocators.

Leveraged Money Net

Leveraged money long contracts minus short contracts. This is the hedge fund / CTA / fast-money proxy in the TFF report, and managed money in physical commodity disaggregated reports.

Retail / Non-Reportable Net

Non-reportable long contracts minus short contracts. This is the small-trader proxy, not literal brokerage retail flow.

%OI

Net position divided by total open interest. This normalizes contract counts across assets with different market sizes.

All-History COT %OI

Reference-aligned rank of the latest COT net position as a percent of open interest. It uses Asset Managers for equity/VIX futures, Managed Money for physical commodities, Leveraged Money for other TFF markets, and legacy non-commercial positioning for core FX and Treasury futures.

Gross %OI

Long plus short exposure divided by open interest. High gross exposure means the trader group is very active even if net exposure is near zero.

3Y Percentile

Where the latest reading sits versus its own trailing three-year history. 80+ is crowded high; 20 or lower is crowded low.

1Y Z-Score

Latest reading minus its one-year average, divided by its one-year volatility. This flags unusually large positioning states.

COT Index

A 0-100 location of the current net position within its rolling range. It is another way to identify crowding.

Total USD Futures Positioning

Legacy non-commercial net positioning across major FX futures converted to USD notional. Foreign-currency futures longs represent USD shorts, so the sign is flipped before summing.

Price / Positioning Confirmation

Price and positioning are confirming when both move in the same direction over 13 weeks. Divergence can flag fading conviction or contrarian accumulation.

Cross-Asset Dashboard

One table for the portfolio meeting: price move, open interest, institutional positioning, crowding, and confirmation state.

AssetLatest DatePrice 13WOI 13WInst/HF %OIInst/HF 3Y %ileInst/HF 13WAsset Manager NetLev Money NetCOT ReadPressure Read
S&P 5002026-07-216.6%-1.2%31.3%67.9%3.7K929.2K-322.9KLong TiltTrend Confirmed
Nasdaq 1002026-07-2110.0%7.2%-0.7%1.9%-47.4K72.6K-74.7KCrowded ShortPrice Up / Positioning Fading
Russell 20002026-07-218.3%0.0%-18.1%5.8%-33.4K-890.0-73.5KCrowded ShortPrice Up / Positioning Fading
Natural Gas2026-07-21-5.0%6.5%-6.1%17.3%-2.2Kn/a-102.8KCrowded ShortRisk-Off Confirmation
Crude Oil2026-07-210.5%-6.1%3.4%19.9%-35.9Kn/a64.0KCrowded ShortPrice Up / Positioning Fading
Gold2026-07-21-12.7%4.8%32.6%48.7%31.9Kn/a124.8KBalancedBuying Into Weakness
Silver2026-07-21-22.5%-7.8%10.6%26.9%2.4Kn/a11.3KShort TiltBuying Into Weakness
Copper2026-07-218.1%7.8%26.5%96.2%11.9Kn/a71.5KCrowded LongTrend Confirmed
Bitcoin2026-07-21-12.9%-17.9%-25.4%45.5%142.02.7K-7.9KBalancedBuying Into Weakness
US Dollar2026-07-213.7%76.0%33.2%80.8%13.3K19.9K-1.9KCrowded LongTrend Confirmed
Euro FX2026-07-21-2.9%1.2%21.5%10.3%-134.5K228.9K-56.7KCrowded ShortRisk-Off Confirmation
Japanese Yen2026-07-212.4%20.5%-41.6%5.8%-93.2K-79.9K-96.2KCrowded ShortPrice Up / Positioning Fading
VIX2026-07-21-12.6%17.2%-9.7%39.1%5.1K-41.5K3.1KShort TiltBuying Into Weakness
SOFR-3M2026-07-21-0.4%8.6%-24.6%3.2%-2.5M-521.2K-2.7MCrowded ShortRisk-Off Confirmation
2-Year Treasury Notes2026-07-21-0.9%-7.7%5.2%96.2%7.0K1.8M-1.6MCrowded LongBuying Into Weakness
5-Year Treasury Notes2026-07-21-1.9%-5.3%11.7%97.4%350.3K2.9M-2.1MCrowded LongBuying Into Weakness
10-Year Treasury Notes2026-07-21-2.4%1.1%9.0%100.0%312.3K2.5M-2.1MCrowded LongBuying Into Weakness

Weekly And Tactical Highlights

Largest one-week positioning moves, plus the 4-week and 13-week context that separates noise from a real allocation shift.

AssetWoW Inst/HF4W Inst/HF13W Inst/HF13W PriceRead
SOFR-3M54.6K44.3K-2.5M-0.4%Risk-Off Confirmation
10-Year Treasury Notes39.6K17.0K312.3K-2.4%Buying Into Weakness
Japanese Yen-31.8K-635.0-93.2K2.4%Price Up / Positioning Fading
S&P 50030.8K-13.0K3.7K6.6%Trend Confirmed
2-Year Treasury Notes24.7K-4.0K7.0K-0.9%Buying Into Weakness
Euro FX-21.4K-67.1K-134.5K-2.9%Risk-Off Confirmation
5-Year Treasury Notes-19.5K-25.1K350.3K-1.9%Buying Into Weakness
Nasdaq 100-12.0K-13.9K-47.4K10.0%Price Up / Positioning Fading
Copper11.3K5.0K11.9K8.1%Trend Confirmed
Russell 20006.2K-23.3K-33.4K8.3%Price Up / Positioning Fading

Full Metric Library

Expanded institutional table: price, open interest, net contracts, percent of open interest, percentiles, z-scores, long/short ratios, and gross crowding.

AssetLatest DateLatest PricePrice 4WPrice 13WOpen InterestOI 4WOI 13WOI 26WNonComm NetNonComm %OINonComm 3Y %ileInst/HF NetInst/HF %OIInst/HF 1Y ZInst/HF 3Y %ileInst/HF WoWInst/HF 4WInst/HF 13WAsset Manager NetLev Money NetRetail NetRetail %OIRetail 3Y %ileCommercial NetCommercial 3Y %ileNonComm L/SAsset Mgr L/SLev Money L/SBroad Spec Gross %OIInstitutional/HF Gross %OI
S&P 5002026-07-21748.32.0%6.6%1.9M-2.1%-1.2%0.7%609.2K31.4%58.3%606.3K31.3%1.1867.9%30.8K-13.0K3.7K929.2K-322.9K123.7K6.4%81.4%-732.9K31.4%1.835.330.31107.1%101.8%
Nasdaq 1002026-07-21709.0-0.7%10.0%286.9K8.2%7.2%7.4%-1.8K-0.6%2.6%-2.1K-0.7%-2.271.9%-12.0K-13.9K-47.4K72.6K-74.7K7.5K2.6%50.0%-5.7K95.5%0.993.270.38111.9%106.0%
Russell 20002026-07-21296.50.4%8.3%411.5K6.4%0.0%-0.5%-81.8K-19.9%6.4%-74.4K-18.1%-0.885.8%6.2K-23.3K-33.4K-890.0-73.5K9.7K2.4%59.0%72.1K94.9%0.720.990.43124.4%121.9%
Natural Gas2026-07-2110.4-9.6%-5.0%1.7M4.1%6.5%4.1%-171.1K-10.2%13.5%-102.8K-6.1%-1.1117.3%3.0K-20.0K-2.2Kn/a-102.8K12.0K0.7%25.0%-33.1K54.5%0.63n/a0.6945.3%34.0%
Crude Oil2026-07-21128.915.8%0.5%1.9M-2.5%-6.1%-5.1%81.7K4.4%12.2%64.0K3.4%0.4019.9%2.0K-18.9K-35.9Kn/a64.0K26.9K1.4%59.0%383.4K98.7%1.36n/a1.5228.9%16.7%
Gold2026-07-21374.8-0.7%-12.7%383.4K8.9%4.8%-27.4%183.9K48.0%34.0%124.8K32.6%0.3948.7%4.1K9.4K31.9Kn/a124.8K29.3K7.6%62.8%-19.3K91.7%5.50n/a8.4969.3%41.3%
Silver2026-07-2153.1-4.8%-22.5%106.4K-2.3%-7.8%-30.0%23.5K22.1%16.7%11.3K10.6%-0.6526.9%-219.0-459.02.4Kn/a11.3K17.0K16.0%30.1%-13.0K98.7%2.77n/a2.6347.0%23.6%
Copper2026-07-2139.55.9%8.1%270.0K0.5%7.8%-3.0%74.0K27.4%96.8%71.5K26.5%1.1196.2%11.3K5.0K11.9Kn/a71.5K8.1K3.0%54.5%-91.2K12.2%3.17n/a5.2852.6%38.9%
Bitcoin2026-07-2166.5K6.1%-12.9%20.5K-0.1%-17.9%-16.4%-4.6K-22.2%42.3%-5.2K-25.4%0.0745.5%-546.0-1.7K142.02.7K-7.9K-68.0-0.3%13.5%4.6K58.3%0.682.390.34115.1%110.5%
US Dollar2026-07-2128.50.1%3.7%54.0K-1.7%76.0%82.4%21.8K40.3%89.1%17.9K33.2%2.0080.8%740.04.6K13.3K19.9K-1.9K2.7K5.1%98.1%-24.5K0.6%2.0012.820.89121.3%107.3%
Euro FX2026-07-211.10.2%-2.9%800.1K1.9%1.2%-9.2%184.9K23.1%10.9%172.3K21.5%-2.3710.3%-21.4K-67.1K-134.5K228.9K-56.7K23.4K2.9%19.9%-208.2K90.4%1.482.000.62120.2%115.8%
Japanese Yen2026-07-21163.21.0%2.4%423.8K-1.7%20.5%44.8%-130.9K-30.9%9.0%-176.1K-41.6%-1.965.8%-31.8K-635.0-93.2K-79.9K-96.2K-2.8K-0.7%25.0%133.7K92.3%0.610.470.46125.9%113.8%
VIX2026-07-2117.0-12.5%-12.6%396.5K12.2%17.2%-0.3%-38.1K-9.6%38.5%-38.4K-9.7%0.9839.1%-5.3K5.0K5.1K-41.5K3.1K1.5K0.4%78.8%36.6K60.9%0.790.521.0382.7%81.6%
SOFR-3M2026-07-2196.00.0%-0.4%13.1M2.7%8.6%0.7%-3.1M-23.6%3.2%-3.2M-24.6%-2.113.2%54.6K44.3K-2.5M-521.2K-2.7M2.4K0.0%73.7%3.1M97.4%0.460.690.3064.3%60.4%
2-Year Treasury Notes2026-07-21102.9-0.2%-0.9%4.3M-4.5%-7.7%-5.3%396.9K9.2%97.4%225.8K5.2%0.9996.2%24.7K-4.0K7.0K1.8M-1.6M66.8K1.5%3.8%-463.7K4.5%1.144.100.18136.4%122.4%
5-Year Treasury Notes2026-07-21106.3-0.5%-1.9%6.2M-1.0%-5.3%-8.8%742.2K12.1%96.2%718.7K11.7%1.8597.4%-19.5K-25.1K350.3K2.9M-2.1M4.8K0.1%1.9%-747.0K15.4%1.203.750.15133.0%126.9%
10-Year Treasury Notes2026-07-21108.6-0.7%-2.4%5.3M0.0%1.1%-8.3%527.0K10.0%100.0%472.4K9.0%1.89100.0%39.6K17.0K312.3K2.5M-2.1M-10.4K-0.2%1.3%-516.6K1.3%1.164.460.16138.3%129.6%

S&P 500

Core US equity beta and the main risk-appetite reference line.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net606.3K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile67.9%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning6.6% / 3.7K

Trend Confirmed

Nasdaq 100

Growth beta. The key chart overlays QQQ, QQQ/SPY, and Asset Manager + Leveraged Money net futures positioning.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net-2.1K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile1.9%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning10.0% / -47.4K

Price Up / Positioning Fading

Russell 2000

Small-cap risk appetite and domestic cyclicality.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net-74.4K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile5.8%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning8.3% / -33.4K

Price Up / Positioning Fading

Natural Gas

Natural gas positioning and energy-volatility impulse before the broader crude oil complex.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net-102.8K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile17.3%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-5.0% / -2.2K

Risk-Off Confirmation

No relative ratio is configured for this asset.

Crude Oil

Energy positioning, inflation impulse, and macro cyclicality.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net64.0K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile19.9%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning0.5% / -35.9K

Price Up / Positioning Fading

Managed-money short contracts divided by managed-money long plus short contracts in the CFTC disaggregated futures-only report. Higher readings show a larger bearish share of directional exposure.

Gold

Real-rate, dollar, and defensive-demand positioning.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net124.8K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile48.7%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-12.7% / 31.9K

Buying Into Weakness

No relative ratio is configured for this asset.

Silver

Hybrid precious/industrial metal risk expression.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net11.3K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile26.9%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-22.5% / 2.4K

Buying Into Weakness

Copper

Global growth and industrial-cycle positioning.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net71.5K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile96.2%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning8.1% / 11.9K

Trend Confirmed

Bitcoin

High-beta liquidity and speculative appetite proxy.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net-5.2K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile45.5%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-12.9% / 142.0

Buying Into Weakness

US Dollar

Dollar positioning and cross-asset liquidity pressure.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net17.9K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile80.8%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning3.7% / 13.3K

Trend Confirmed

Legacy non-commercial net positions across EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD, CHF, AUD, NZD, and MXN futures, converted to USD notional. Foreign-currency futures longs are flipped because they represent USD shorts.

Euro FX

Euro futures positioning versus the dollar, using EUR/USD as the price proxy.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net172.3K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile10.3%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-2.9% / -134.5K

Risk-Off Confirmation

No relative ratio is configured for this asset.

Japanese Yen

Yen futures positioning, carry pressure, and risk-off funding stress, using USD/JPY as the price proxy.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net-176.1K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile5.8%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning2.4% / -93.2K

Price Up / Positioning Fading

No relative ratio is configured for this asset.

VIX

Volatility risk transfer. Positions retain the literal CFTC sign: negative Asset Manager net means a net short VIX-futures exposure.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net-38.4K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile39.1%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-12.6% / 5.1K

Buying Into Weakness

Asset Manager long contracts minus short contracts, multiplied by the CBOE VIX futures multiplier ($1,000 per VIX index point). Negative values indicate net short VIX futures exposure.

SOFR-3M

Short-rate futures positioning tied to Fed path expectations. Price proxy uses the current calendar-year December Fed Funds futures contract because it gives a cleaner Yahoo history; higher futures price means lower expected policy rates.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net-3.2M

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile3.2%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-0.4% / -2.5M

Risk-Off Confirmation

No relative ratio is configured for this asset.

2-Year Treasury Notes

Front-end rate positioning tied to Fed policy expectations and curve repricing.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net225.8K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile96.2%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-0.9% / 7.0K

Buying Into Weakness

No relative ratio is configured for this asset.

5-Year Treasury Notes

Intermediate-rate positioning and the belly of the curve.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net718.7K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile97.4%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-1.9% / 350.3K

Buying Into Weakness

No relative ratio is configured for this asset.

10-Year Treasury Notes

Duration positioning. Price proxy uses the 10-year Treasury note futures contract.

Latest CFTC Date2026-07-21

CFTC positioning is weekly, usually Tuesday data released Friday.

Inst/HF Net472.4K

Asset manager plus leveraged money net futures positioning.

Inst/HF 3Y Percentile100.0%

Where current positioning sits versus its own trailing 3-year range.

13W Price / Positioning-2.4% / 312.3K

Buying Into Weakness

No relative ratio is configured for this asset.