Feeder Cattle (FC) COT Report: Week Ending October 23, 2026

Executive summary

The CFTC Disaggregated Commitments of Traders report for Feeder Cattle futures for the week ending October 23, 2026, highlights renewed speculative buying alongside overall contraction in contract open interest. Managed money traders expanded their net long position by 1,571 contracts to reach +10,910 contracts, driven by 1,131 new outright longs and 440 short-covering liquidations.

Total open interest slipped by 705 contracts week-over-week to 62,145, remaining near the lower bounds of its 2026 range (which peaked above 79,200 contracts in February). Meanwhile, commercial producers and merchants trimmed gross positions on both sides of the ledger, resulting in a net short posture of -3,720 contracts. Swap dealers remained heavily net long at +7,006 contracts, acting as an offset to structural short positioning held across other reportables and commercial participants.

Positioning (net, extremes vs recent weeks)

• Managed Money: Held 20,055 long contracts and 9,145 short contracts, alongside 9,014 spreading contracts. This yields a net long position of +10,910 contracts.
  • Historical Context: Speculative net length has continued its steady rebound from late-summer lows (+7,211 contracts on September 18, 2026), but remains well below the seasonal highs seen in early May 2026, when net length reached +20,521 contracts (May 8, 2026).
• Commercial Producers & Merchants: Held 6,676 long contracts versus 10,396 short contracts, for a net short position of -3,720 contracts.
  • Historical Context: The commercial net short position remains relatively moderate compared to the January–March period, when producer/merchant net short exposure regularly exceeded -6,000 to -8,000 contracts (e.g., -7,444 contracts on February 27, 2026).
• Swap Dealers: Held 7,490 longs and 484 shorts (plus 1,272 spreading), generating a net long position of +7,006 contracts. This group has maintained consistent net length throughout 2026, typically ranging between +4,000 and +7,800 contracts.
• Other Reportables: Maintained a sizable net short exposure of -11,397 contracts (2,793 long vs. 14,190 short, with 5,232 in spreading).
• Nonreportable (Small Traders): Stood net short by -2,799 contracts (9,613 long vs. 12,412 short).

Flows and week-over-week changes

Total market open interest decreased by 705 contracts (-1.1%) from 62,850 to 62,145.

Category	Long Change	Short Change	Spreading Change	Net Impact
Managed Money	+1,131	-440	-1,401	+1,571 (More Bullish)
Producer/Merchant	-768	-584	—	-184 (More Bearish)
Swap Dealers	+5	+66	+125	-61 (More Bearish)
Other Reportables	+206	+1,047	-257	-841 (More Bearish)
Nonreportable	+254	+739	—	-485 (More Bearish)

Managed money flows reflected a risk-seeking tilt, unwinding 1,401 spreading contracts in favor of directional long accumulation (+1,131) and short covering (-440). In contrast, other reportables added heavily to gross shorts (+1,047 contracts), offsetting spec buying.

Commercials vs speculators

A clear divergence remains between institutional trend-followers and real-economy hedgers: * Speculators (Managed Money): Long-to-short ratio improved to 2.19:1 (from 1.97:1 the prior week). Managed money accounts for 32.3% of total open interest on the long side versus 14.7% on the short side. * Commercials (Producer/Merchant): Positioned 10.7% of total long open interest and 16.7% of total short open interest. The commercial side showed a passive posture this week, reducing gross exposures across both longs (-768) and shorts (-584). * Swap Dealers: Functioning primarily as index and financial intermediaries, swap dealers hold 12.1% of all open interest on the long side and just 0.8% on the short side, effectively providing the liquidity absorbency for commercial hedging and other non-commercial short positions.

Open interest and participation

• Total Open Interest: 62,145 contracts. This represents a minor contraction on the week (-705) and sits near the lower quartile of the trailing 10-month range (high of 79,277 on February 6, 2026; low of 56,937 on June 12, 2026).
• Trader Breadth: Total active reporting entities rose slightly to 222 (up from 217 the previous week).
  • Managed money long traders increased from 45 to 47, while short managed money traders rose from 26 to 27.
  • Commercial producer/merchant participation stood at 40 long and 52 short traders.
• Concentration:
  • The top 4 traders held 12.8% of the net long positions and 16.4% of net shorts.
  • The top 8 traders held 21.4% of net longs and 24.6% of net shorts.
  • On a gross basis, the top 4 traders controlled 13.9% long and 20.3% short, indicating moderate concentration that is typical for the feeder cattle complex without acute signs of single-entity dominance.

Price context (only using provided series)

• Price Data Notice: No price series data was supplied in the feed for this reporting cycle. As a result, direct correlation between net speculative flow and contract settlement levels cannot be verified from the provided records.

Risks and watchpoints

• Speculative Re-leveraging into Falling Open Interest: The managed money net long expansion (+1,571) occurred as total open interest fell (-705). This suggests that part of the shift is mechanical (driven by spreading unwinds of -1,401 contracts and short-covering) rather than aggressive new margin entering the market broadly.
• Concentrated Shorts in Other Reportables: The "Other Reportables" category remains heavily skewed net short (-11,397 contracts), adding 1,047 short contracts this week. Should cash-market dynamics turn tighter, this segment remains vulnerable to short-covering squeeze dynamics.
• Capacity of Commercials to Absorb Length: With producer/merchant short positions at 10,396 contracts (substantially lower than the ~15,000–16,000 peaks earlier in 2026), commercial willingness to hedge higher price rallies may cap speculative follow-through if cash market feeding margins compress.