Track gold and silver COT data, open interest, trader positioning, bank positions, futures, options, and historical trends
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Gold & Silver Positioning Tracker
COT, open interest, weekly changes, market concentration and bank participation from official CFTC reports.
Checked automatically every six hours. Standard COT data update weekly; the Bank Participation Report updates monthly. Open-interest ounce equivalents represent contract exposure, not physical inventory.
Track Gold & Silver COT, Open Interest & Positioning
The Gold & Silver COT, Open Interest & Positioning Tracker provides a detailed view of positioning across COMEX gold and silver futures markets. Track open interest, long and short positions, Managed Money, Producer/Merchant, Swap Dealers, bank positioning, futures and options, and historical trends in one place.
COT data can help investors see how major market participants are positioned and how speculative activity, commercial hedging, and institutional exposure change over time.
Positioning is most useful when analyzed alongside the Gold Price, Silver Price, physical inventories, monetary conditions, and broader precious metals market trends.
Why Gold & Silver Positioning Matters
Gold and silver futures markets include producers, merchants, Swap Dealers, money managers, banks, and other institutional traders.
Managed Money positioning can provide insight into speculative sentiment, while Producer/Merchant positions often reflect hedging activity connected with physical commodity businesses.
Open interest measures the total number of outstanding futures contracts that remain open. Rising or falling open interest, particularly when analyzed alongside price and COT positioning, can help show whether participation in the futures market is expanding or contracting.
No single positioning indicator can predict gold or silver prices. COT data is most useful as one part of a broader market analysis.
Physical-market conditions can also be compared through the Gold & Silver Inventory Tracker, which follows COMEX, London, and Shanghai inventories.
Understanding Gold & Silver COT Data
The Commitments of Traders (COT) report is published by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and provides a breakdown of positions held by different categories of traders in U.S. futures markets.
For precious metals investors, gold and silver COT data provides insight into positioning across COMEX futures.
Important trader categories include:
- Producer/Merchant/Processor/User – businesses involved in producing, processing, handling, or using the underlying commodity that may use futures to hedge price exposure.
- Swap Dealers – institutions involved in commodity swaps that may use futures to hedge related exposures.
- Managed Money – professional money managers, including commodity trading advisors and commodity pool operators.
- Other Reportables – large reportable traders that do not fall within the other main categories.
- Nonreportable Positions – positions held by traders below CFTC reporting thresholds.
Comparing long, short, and net positions across these groups can help identify significant changes in market positioning and sentiment.
Gold & Silver Bank Positioning
The tracker also follows aggregate bank long and short positions using data from the CFTC Bank Participation Report.
Bank positioning provides another perspective on institutional participation in precious metals futures, including positions held by U.S. and non-U.S. banks.
Large bank positions should not automatically be interpreted as directional bets on future gold or silver prices. Futures positions may also be used to hedge exposures elsewhere in a bank’s business.
Major economic releases and Federal Reserve decisions can influence futures positioning and market expectations. Upcoming events can be followed through the Economic Calendar.
For a broader view of physical supply, futures positioning, monetary conditions, and precious metals trends, explore our Gold & Silver Market Analysis.
Gold & Silver COT FAQ
What is the Gold & Silver COT Tracker?
The tracker monitors positioning across COMEX gold and silver futures markets.
It combines COT data, open interest, long and short positions, Managed Money, Producer/Merchant, Swap Dealer, bank positioning, futures and options, and historical trends in one place.
What is gold and silver open interest?
Open interest is the total number of outstanding gold or silver futures contracts that remain open and have not yet been closed, offset, or settled.
Rising open interest generally means additional positions are being created, while falling open interest indicates that positions are being closed.
It is most useful when analyzed alongside price, trading activity, and trader positioning.
What is the COT report?
The Commitments of Traders report provides a breakdown of futures and options positions held by different categories of market participants.
Published by the CFTC, it allows investors to monitor how major traders are positioned across markets including COMEX gold and silver futures.
What does Managed Money mean in COT data?
Managed Money includes professional money managers such as commodity trading advisors, commodity pool operators, and certain other institutional traders.
Their long, short, and net positions are commonly monitored to assess speculative positioning and changes in sentiment.
What are Producer/Merchant positions?
The Producer/Merchant/Processor/User category includes businesses involved in producing, processing, handling, or using the underlying commodity.
These participants often use futures to hedge price exposure associated with their physical business activities.
What are Swap Dealer positions?
Swap Dealers are institutions involved primarily in commodity swaps and may use futures to hedge exposure created through swap transactions and related activities.
A large long or short position should therefore not automatically be interpreted as a directional view on future prices.
What are gold and silver bank positions?
Bank positioning represents aggregate long and short futures positions held by reporting banks.
The Bank Participation Report separates U.S. and non-U.S. banks, providing additional insight into institutional participation in precious metals futures.
Bank positions may also represent hedges against other exposures, so a large short position does not necessarily mean banks expect prices to fall.
What is the difference between long, short and net positioning?
A long position generally benefits from a rising price, while a short position generally benefits from a falling price.
Net positioning is calculated as:
Long Positions − Short Positions = Net Position
A positive result represents net-long positioning, while a negative result represents net-short positioning.
What are Futures + Options Combined positions?
Futures + Options Combined data combines futures positions with options positions converted to a futures-equivalent basis.
This provides a broader measure of market exposure than futures-only data.
How often is COT data updated?
Standard COT data is published weekly, while the Bank Participation Report is published monthly.
The tracker updates as new underlying data becomes available.
Can COT data predict gold and silver prices?
No.
Extreme long or short positioning can help identify unusual sentiment or potentially crowded trades, but positioning can remain extreme for extended periods.
Gold and silver prices are also influenced by interest rates, currencies, monetary policy, physical demand, central-bank activity, industrial demand, mine supply, inventories, and geopolitical developments.
Why should investors monitor gold and silver COT data?
COT data helps investors understand how major groups of traders are positioned in gold and silver futures.
Open interest adds another layer by showing whether overall market participation is expanding or contracting.
When combined with prices, physical inventories, supply and demand, and macroeconomic analysis, COT and open interest data can provide valuable context for understanding precious metals markets.