What it is: This chart overlays the commodity’s price with the net position of “Managed Money” (e.g. hedge funds, CTAs) from CFTC Commitments of Traders data. Net position = long contracts minus short contracts.
How to use it: Compare the two lines over time. Look for periods when they move together (trend confirmation) and when they diverge (price making new highs/lows while positioning does not, or the opposite).
What it is: A 0–100 oscillator built from each week's change in Managed Money positioning: the change in longs minus the change in shorts, scaled between the lowest (0) and highest (100) weekly reading of the last 52 weeks. It measures the flow of positioning each week, not the size of the net position (e.g. 80 = this week's net buying is near the top of the past year's range).
How to use it: Read it as a momentum gauge for speculative money. Values near 80–100 mark unusually heavy buying for the past year; values near 0–20 mark unusually heavy selling. Use the Price vs. Managed Money chart for the size of the net position itself.
What it is: Open interest is the total number of outstanding (open) futures contracts. This chart shows how that total has changed over time for this commodity.
How to use it: Watch open interest alongside price. Rising open interest usually means new positions are being added; falling open interest means positions are being closed (unwinding).
What it is: Week-over-week change in Managed Money long and short positions. Each bar shows how much long or short exposure was added or reduced compared to the prior report.
How to use it: Compare the Long and Short series. Net flow into longs supports a bullish view; the opposite supports a bearish view.
What it is: The share of total open interest held by the largest four traders. This chart shows the average of the long and short concentration percentages over time.
How to use it: Track whether concentration is rising or falling. High concentration can mean a few players dominate the market.
What it is: A sentiment score from -100 to +100 based on the latest CFTC report, computed from Managed Money long/short positions as (long − short) ÷ (long + short) × 100.
How to use it: Positive = net long; negative = net short. Bullish when ≥ 50, Bearish when ≤ -50, Neutral in between.
