Platinum Futures - COT Report (Week Ending 2026-02-20)

Executive summary

This week's report reveals a significant shift in speculative sentiment following a multi-week washout. Managed Money aggressively increased their net long position, primarily through significant short-covering, marking a decisive reversal from their recent liquidations. This occurred against a backdrop of nearly flat open interest, suggesting a rotation among existing participants rather than a large influx of new capital. Commercials modestly reduced their net short position to the lowest level in the provided 8-week history, indicating reduced hedging pressure. The market appears to have moved from a state of speculative excess in late December to a much cleaner, though still tentative, positioning base.

Positioning (net, extremes vs recent weeks)

• Managed Money Net Position: +3,426 contracts.

  • This is a sharp increase from last week's net long of +1,708 contracts and marks the highest net long position in three weeks.
  • However, this position remains drastically reduced from the speculative peak of +16,245 contracts seen on December 23rd, highlighting the scale of the recent liquidation.

• Producer/Merchant (Commercials) Net Position: -12,659 contracts.

  • Commercials are the least net short they have been over the past eight weeks.
  • This is a notable reduction from their peak net short position of -16,827 contracts in late December.

• Swap Dealers Net Position: -5,877 contracts.

  • This position is relatively stable week-on-week but is significantly less short than its peak of -11,737 contracts on December 23rd.

Flows and week-over-week changes

The reporting week was characterized by a significant repositioning by Managed Money.

• Managed Money: Net bought 1,718 contracts. This was a powerful bullish flow, composed of adding 807 new long contracts while simultaneously covering 911 short contracts.
• Producer/Merchant: Net bought 360 contracts, a modest reduction in their net short hedge. This was achieved by adding 297 longs and cutting 63 shorts.
• Swap Dealers: Were minor net sellers of 118 contracts.
• Open Interest: Increased by a marginal 230 contracts. The significant internal shifts within categories without a meaningful change in overall open interest suggests this week's activity was more about a transfer of risk than new interest entering the market.

Commercials vs speculators

The classic market structure of Commercials holding a large net short position against a speculative net long remains intact, but the scale has changed dramatically.

• Commercials (Producers/Merchants): Their net short position of -12,659 contracts is the smallest in the provided dataset. This reduction in hedging activity could imply that producers see less downside price risk at current levels compared to previous months.
• Speculators (Managed Money): Their net long position of +3,426 contracts, while growing, is still only ~21% of its late-December peak. This shows that while speculative sentiment is turning more positive, conviction is far from the highs seen previously. The washout of speculative length over January and February has been severe.

Open interest and participation

• Open Interest: Total open interest stands at 69,291 contracts. This is near the lows for the 8-week period (69,061 last week) and represents a significant decline of over 27,000 contracts from the peak of 97,095 on December 23rd. This large drop in participation underscores the major exit of capital from the market in recent months. The small increase this week is the first in three weeks.
• Trader Count: The total number of reportable traders is 230, down from a high of 296 in late December, confirming the trend of lower overall market participation.
• Concentration: The short side of the market is notably concentrated. The largest 4 traders hold 36.5% of the gross short position, compared to just 17.0% of the gross long position.

Price context

Note: The provided price series ends on February 5th, 2026, which is two weeks prior to the "as of" date of this positioning data (February 20th). Therefore, a direct correlation with this week's positioning changes cannot be made.

• The available price data shows a peak of 2750.7 on January 26th, which coincided with a period of very high open interest and a large Managed Money net long position.
• A sharp price decline occurred in early February, with the price hitting 2080.0 on February 5th. This price collapse corresponds with the major liquidation of speculative long positions and the dramatic drop in open interest seen in the COT data through January and early February.
• The renewed buying from Managed Money in this week's report (ending Feb 20th) follows that significant price drop, suggesting that this cohort may be attempting to re-establish long positions at potentially more attractive price levels after the washout.

Risks and watchpoints

• Price Data Gap: The most critical consideration is the lack of price data for the reporting week (Feb 16-20). The analysis is based purely on positioning changes without knowing the price action that drove them.
• Is the Washout Over? Managed Money positioning is now at very low levels compared to recent history. This "clean" slate could form a stronger base for a potential rally. The key question is whether this week's short-covering and new buying is a one-off adjustment or the beginning of a sustained re-entry into the market.
• Commercial Behavior: Continue to monitor the commercial net position. If they remain less hedged (i.e., their net short position does not grow significantly), it would provide a constructively bullish signal for the medium term.
• Open Interest Growth: For any potential price trend to have staying power, it should be accompanied by a rise in open interest. A failure for OI to expand on subsequent reports would suggest a lack of new conviction and a market susceptible to range-bound trading.