Feeder Cattle COT Report for the week of February 13, 2026

Executive summary

This week's report was dominated by a significant liquidation event, with total open interest falling by nearly 5,000 contracts. Despite this, the core positioning of major players remained largely stable. Managed Money maintained their substantial net long position with only minor adjustments to their outright longs and shorts, though they aggressively unwound spread positions. Commercials used the week to reduce their net short exposure, primarily by covering existing short positions. The market remains characterized by a classic standoff: a heavily long speculative community versus deeply hedged commercial participants. The sharp drop in overall participation is the most significant development and a key watchpoint going forward.

Positioning

• Managed Money (Funds): Funds remain significantly net long at +17,959 contracts (25,540 long vs. 7,581 short). This is a slight increase from the prior week's +17,925 but is below the recent peak of +18,865 seen on January 30th. Their positioning remains firmly bullish and is near the highest levels seen over the past two months.
• Producer/Merchant (Commercials): Commercials hold a net short position of -7,686 contracts (7,297 long vs. 14,983 short). This is a notable reduction in their net short stance from -8,662 contracts in the prior week, indicating a decrease in hedging pressure or profit-taking on short positions.
• Swap Dealers: This group maintains a net long position of +4,188 contracts, slightly down from the previous week. They continue to provide liquidity on the long side of the market.
• Nonreportable (Small Speculators): Small traders are heavily net short at -5,383 contracts (12,427 long vs. 17,810 short).

Flows and week-over-week changes

The most significant change this week was a steep decline in open interest, signaling a major exit of contracts from the market. - Managed Money: The net position barely changed (+34 contracts). However, this masks a massive unwind of spread positions, which fell by 2,358 contracts. Outright long positions saw a trivial change (-5 contracts) as did shorts (-39 contracts). This suggests funds are closing calendar spreads rather than making a directional call. - Producer/Merchant: Commercials made a bullish adjustment, increasing their net position by 976 contracts. This was driven more by short-covering (reducing shorts by 618 contracts) than by adding new longs (+358 contracts). - Swap Dealers: Reduced their net long position by 208 contracts, primarily by liquidating 203 long contracts. - Other Reportables: This category also saw a significant unwind of spread positions (-2,663 contracts).

Commercials vs speculators

The divergence between commercial and speculative players remains stark. - Speculative Side: The combined Managed Money and Swap Dealer net long position stands at +22,147 contracts. This represents a strong consensus belief in higher prices among financial participants. - Commercial Side: Producers and merchants are the natural sellers/hedgers in this market, holding a substantial net short position of -7,686 contracts. Their move to cover over 600 short contracts this week is a potentially supportive signal, as it removes some selling pressure from the market.

Open interest and participation

• Open Interest: Total open interest collapsed by 4,998 contracts to 74,279. This is a significant 6.3% weekly drop, suggesting a round of profit-taking and liquidation across the board. Current open interest has fallen back to levels last seen in mid-January.
• Participation: Managed Money continues to dominate the long side, holding 34.4% of all long positions. The short side is more distributed, with Nonreportables (24.0%), Producer/Merchants (20.2%), and Other Reportables (19.7%) all holding significant shares.
• Concentration: The market concentration is moderate. The four largest traders by net position hold 13.2% of the total short side and 10.0% of the long side.

Price context

Price series data was not provided for this reporting period. Therefore, it is not possible to correlate these positioning changes with specific price action. We cannot determine if the large drop in open interest occurred during a market rally (suggesting profit-taking into strength) or a decline (suggesting long liquidation).

Risks and watchpoints

• Crowded Speculative Long: The Managed Money net long position remains near multi-week highs. While their conviction appears strong, this level of ownership poses a risk of a sharp sell-off if sentiment shifts and they are forced to liquidate their positions in a hurry.
• Open Interest Decline: The sharp drop in market participation is a warning sign. It is critical to monitor if this liquidation was a one-off event or the beginning of a trend. A continued decline in open interest could signal that the current market trend is losing momentum.
• Commercial Short-Covering: The decision by commercials to buy back shorts is a key development. Continued short-covering from this group could provide a strong floor for the market and act as a bullish catalyst.
• Spreading Unwind: The large-scale unwinding of spread positions by both Managed Money and Other Reportables is notable. This removes a significant amount of structured positions and could lead to changes in term-structure relationships or localized volatility spikes.