Notice2026-08743
Review of the Commitments of Traders Reporting Program
Primary source
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Published
May 5, 2026
Issuing agencies
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Abstract
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC" or "Commission") throughout its history has published a version of a Commitments of Traders Reports that shows aggregate trader positions in certain futures and options markets. The CFTC periodically reviews the Commitments of Traders Reports in an effort to ensure that it continues to provide the public with useful market information and evolves to meet changing market conditions. The Commission is issuing this request for comment to solicit public input regarding the Commitments of Traders Reports, including the frequency of publication and content of the reports.
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 86 (Tuesday, May 5, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 5, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24207-24210]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-08743]
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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Review of the Commitments of Traders Reporting Program
AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
ACTION: Request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or
``Commission'') throughout its history has published a version of a
Commitments of Traders Reports that shows aggregate trader positions in
certain futures and options markets. The CFTC periodically reviews the
Commitments of Traders Reports in an effort to ensure that it continues
to provide the public with useful market information and evolves to
meet changing market conditions. The Commission is issuing this request
for comment to solicit public input regarding the Commitments of
Traders Reports, including the frequency of publication and content of
the reports.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 4, 2026.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, specifically referencing ``Review
of the Commitments of Traders Reporting Program,'' by any of the
following methods:
<bullet> <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>: Go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and
press the ``Search'' button, then proceed as follows:
1. Under Refine Documents Results--check the box to ``Only show
documents open for comment'';
2. Under Agency--select ``See More'' and check the box for
``Commodity Futures Trading Commission,'' then press the Apply button;
3. Identify this proposal in the list of CFTC documents open for
comment, press the ``Comment'' button to open the submission form, and
follow the instructions on the form.
Alternatively, if you are viewing this proposal on
<a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">www.federalregister.gov</a>, click the ``Submit A Public Comment'' button
at the top of the page to open the comment form. Follow the
instructions on the form to submit your comment to <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>.
<bullet> Mail: Send to--Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the
Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette
Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581.
<bullet> Hand Delivery/Courier: Address to--CFTC Comment
Submission, Attn: Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the Commission,
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st
Street NW, Washington, DC 20581.
Please submit your comments using only one of these methods. To
avoid possible delays with mail or in-person deliveries, submissions
through <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> are encouraged.
All comments must be submitted in English or, if not, accompanied
by an English translation. Do not include in your comment text or
attachments any personal identifying information or business
information that you do not want published online. Comments (regardless
of submission method) will be published without review for, and without
removal of, any personal identifying information or information your
business may consider confidential.
If you wish to submit confidential information for the Commission's
consideration, please contact the CFTC personnel listed in this Notice
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT before making any submission.
Please also carefully review the Commission's procedures in 17 CFR
145.9 for requesting confidential treatment under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) of information submitted to the Commission.
The CFTC reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to
review, pre-screen, filter, or redact all or any part of your comment
submission. The CFTC also reserves the right, without further
notification, to refuse to publish or to remove from public view all or
any part of your submission to the extent it contains content
inappropriate for publication in a comment file, such as--without
limitation--obscene language, threats of violence, solicitations for
commercial sales or illegal activity, or obvious spam. If a submission
that is refused for or withdrawn from publication because of
inappropriate content also contains comments on the merits of this
proposal, such submission will be retained in the record for the matter
and will be considered as required under the Administrative Procedure
Act and other applicable laws, and may be accessible under the FOIA.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Guerin, Senior Special Counsel,
(202) 734-4194, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7e0a190b1b0c17103e1d180a1d50191108"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4b3f2c3e2e3922250b282d3f28652c243d">[email protected]</span></a>, Division of Data; Harold Hild, Policy
Advisor, (202) 418-5376, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#066e6e6f6a62466560726528616970"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a9c1c1c0c5cde9cacfddca87cec6df">[email protected]</span></a>, Division of Market Oversight;
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1151 21st
Street NW, Washington, DC 20581.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Commission is requesting public comment on the Commitments of
Traders Reports (``COT Reports''). This request for comment provides
background on the history, purpose, data, and evolution of the COT
Reports program, outlines changes in market structure affecting the
reports, and poses specific questions regarding potential future
modifications. Public comment for the Commission's review of its
practices with respect to the COT Reports will provide the Commission
with valuable information and perspective as it evaluates potential
modifications to its COT Reports procedures.
A. COT Reports and Public Information
The Commission, and its predecessor entities, have long sought to
provide the public with information related to the futures markets.
Beginning with an intent to provide the public with comprehensive
information regarding trading in grain futures, the Commission has
enhanced its publication of market information over time to include
more contract markets and more frequent publication. Although there is
no statutory or regulatory mandated requirement for the Commission to
publish the COT Reports, the Commission has received feedback
indicating that the report generally provides valuable information to
market participants.\1\ This request for comment continues a series of
efforts by the Commission to maintain an information system that
reflects changing market conditions, and to provide the public with
useful information regarding futures and options markets.
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\1\ See generally Request for Comment, Comprehensive Review of
the Commitments of Traders Reporting Program, 71 FR 35627 (June
2006) (``RFC''). The first modern form of the COT Reports was
published in June of 1962 by the predecessor entity to the CFTC, the
Commodity Exchange Authority.
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B. History and Evolution of the COT Reports, Marketplace
1. Background
In 2006, the Commission undertook a comprehensive review of its
[[Page 24208]]
Commitments of Traders Program.\2\ In that review, the Commission
discussed at length the history, development, and evolution of the COT
Reports \3\ and sought feedback from market participants on possible
changes to the COT reporting system.\4\
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\2\ RFC at 35627.
\3\ Id. at 35628-35631.
\4\ Id. at 35631-35632.
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The COT Reports provide the public and market participants with
information related to open interest in the futures and options
markets. Typically, although not in all cases, the Commission includes
futures and options markets on the COT Reports when there are twenty or
more traders that hold positions above a certain large trader
threshold. Currently, the Commission generally publishes the COT
Reports on Friday afternoons. The published data is based on Tuesday
position data that is sent to the Commission by reporting firms on
Wednesday. Although position data is supplied by reporting firms (FCMs,
clearing members, foreign brokers and exchanges), the actual trader
category or classification is based on the predominant business purpose
self-reported by traders on the CFTC Form 40 and subject to review by
CFTC staff.\5\
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\5\ The trader classification identified in the Form 40 will
typically be applied to each of such trader's positions in that
contract market. The classifications identified in the Form 40 are
specific to contract markets and not specified on a position-by-
position basis. See RFC at 35628.
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The originating predecessor report to today's COT Reports was first
issued by the Grain Futures Administration. This report endeavored to
provide comprehensive information regarding trading in grain
futures.\6\ As part of that effort, the report included a distinction
between speculative and hedging positions that was derived from the
Administration's collection of information from traders as to whether
they were engaged in the cash grain business.\7\
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\6\ Annual Reports of the Department of Agriculture for 1924,
Report of the Grain Futures Administration on Administration of the
Grain Futures Act, at 2, September 9, 1924.
\7\ RFC at 35628-35629.
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The Commodity Exchange Authority subsequently began a practice of
publishing regular, periodic COT Reports.\8\ These reports began as
monthly publications published roughly two weeks after the end of the
preceding month. Since that time, the publication of the COT Reports
has iteratively, over time evolved to be published more frequently,
based on more recent position data, and cover more commodity contract
markets. The COT Reports also moved from fee-based access to being
freely available on the Commission's website.\9\ In addition, due to
changes to the Commission's collections of information, the
classification made in the reports of speculative and hedging positions
was no longer included. Rather, reportable positions were classified as
commercial or non-commercial.\10\
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\8\ Id. at 35629.
\9\ Id. at 35629.
\10\ These classifications were based on information received
from traders on the Form 40.
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2. Addition of the Supplemental Report
In January 2007, the Commission began publishing a new weekly COT
Report, entitled ``COT--Supplemental'' (``Supplemental Report''). The
Supplemental Report includes select agricultural commodity contracts
for combined futures and options positions. The Supplemental Report
adds a third classification of trader, index traders, and breaks down
the reportable open interest positions into: non-commercial,
commercial, and index traders. The non-commercial category includes
positions of managed funds, pension funds, and other investors that are
generally seeking exposure to a broad index of commodity prices as an
asset class in an unleveraged and passively managed manner. The
commercial category includes positions for entities whose trading
predominantly reflects hedging of over-the-counter transactions
involving commodity indices. For example, a swap dealer holding long
futures positions to hedge a short commodity index exposure opposite
institutional traders, such as pension funds.
All of these traders--whether coming from the non-commercial or
commercial categories--are generally replicating a commodity index by
establishing long futures positions in the component markets and then
rolling those positions forward from future to future using a fixed
methodology. Some traders assigned to the index traders category are
engaged in other futures activity that could not be disaggregated. As a
result, the index traders category, which is typically made up of
traders with long-only futures positions replicating an index, will
include some long and short positions where traders have multi-
dimensional trading activities, the preponderance of which is index
trading. Likewise, the index traders category will not include some
traders who are engaged in index trading, but for whom it does not
represent a substantial part of their overall trading activity.
3. Disaggregated COT
The Commission began publishing a Disaggregated Commitments of
Traders Report on September 4, 2009 (``Disaggregated COT Report''). The
first iteration of the report covered 22 major physical commodity
markets, with other physical commodity markets added later that year.
The Disaggregated COT Report further modified the level of market
transparency available in the COT Reports by separating traders into
the following four categories of traders: Producer/Merchant/Processor/
User; Swap Dealers; Managed Money; and Other Reportables, thus
providing more granular classifications than the previous commercial
and non-commercial categories.
4. CFTC Staff COT Reports Processes
Staff in the Divisions of Data (DOD) and Market Oversight (DMO)
construct the COT Reports based on data collected pursuant to the
Commission's large trader reporting program. As described sequentially
below, DOD and DMO staff currently perform specific activities to
create and publish accurate COT Reports.
Staff activities specific to the COT Reports generally begin on
Wednesday mornings, when large trader position reports and associated
special account identifications associated with the prior business day
are received by the Commission.\11\ These large trader position reports
and special account identifications are, if submitted in accordance
with Commission data specifications, loaded into the Commission's data
systems and made available to staff.
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\11\ See, 17 CFR 17.02(a) (requiring large trader position
reports to be submitted no later than 9 a.m. on the business day
following that to which the information contained therein pertains)
and 17.02(b) (requiring new special account identifications to be
submitted no later than 9 a.m. on the business day following the
date on which the account becomes reportable, while permitting
certain supplemental information regarding such owner(s) and
controller(s) to be reported no later than 9 a.m. on the third
business day following the date on which the special account becomes
reportable).
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DOD staff review the data and account identifications reported to
the Commission using purpose-built automated tools designed to identify
potentially missing or erroneous data and identifications. DOD staff
then contact, via email and/or phone, individual firms and request that
they investigate and resolve the potential discrepancies identified by
staff. Firms contacted by DOD staff generally begin to submit corrected
or previously missing data on Wednesday. For missing account
identifications, many
[[Page 24209]]
firms collect and verify the requested information internally on
Wednesday and include it in their scheduled batch submission of data to
the Commission on Thursday morning. In addition, foreign firms
contacted by DOD staff generally do not begin to submit corrected or
previously missing data until Thursday.
Also on Wednesdays, DMO staff begin to review and make any
necessary corrections to data representing the trader classifications
of owner(s) and controller(s) of special accounts associated with
positions that will be represented on the COT Reports.\12\
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\12\ See, 17 CFR 18.04 (Statement of reporting trader). A
trading entity generally is classified on the COT Reports according
to their responses to questions on Form 40. In order to ensure that
traders are classified with accuracy and consistency, DMO staff
reviews this self-classification and may re-classify a trader if the
staff has additional information about the trader's use of the
markets.
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On Thursdays, the Commission continues to receive corrected data
and account identifications. Newly submitted data is subject to the
processes noted above to identify potential discrepancies, missing
data, and to determine trader classifications. Staff engage with
reporting firms and traders throughout Thursday, and sometimes into
Friday, regarding certain identified missing or potentially erroneous
data.
On Thursday, DOD staff continue review newly received data while
also undertaking a comprehensive validation process on the reports that
includes verifying aggregated positions and analyzing the
reasonableness of position trends over time. Validated data is passed
to Commission subject matter experts in the DMO for further review.
These review processes continue into Thursday afternoon as DMO subject
matter experts iteratively analyze the data, make modifications
necessary to correct any trader classifications, and, when they are
satisfied with the accuracy of the report, approve the COT Reports data
for publication.
On Friday morning, CFTC staff responsible for the Commission's
website prepare the COT Reports for publication. Commission subject
matter experts in the DMO again review and approve the COT Reports in
their final publication form. The Reports in their final publication
form are embargoed and ultimately published at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday.
Since October 2022, the Commission has also simultaneously
published the COT Reports data to a public reporting environment.
CFTC's Public Reporting Environment, available at: <a href="https://publicreporting.cftc.gov/">https://publicreporting.cftc.gov/</a>, was intended to further support industry
professionals needing to customize, search, filter, analyze, and
download COT Reports data. The Public Reporting Environment allows
users to freely download COT Reports data for user-selected reporting
dates and contract markets, as well as to use an application
programming interface to access and download the COT Reports data.
II. General Request for Comment
In a continuation of its efforts to provide appropriate and useful
information to the public and market participants, and in light of
evolving markets and the introduction of new and innovative products,
the CFTC is now seeking public comment concerning whether it should
adopt any changes to the COT Reports. Commenters are invited to submit
comments on COT Reports generally and to submit comments on the
potential impacts of modifying the COT Reports publication. These
impacts may include benefits and risks to markets and market
participants, and commenters are encouraged to discuss these benefits
and risks in their comments. Such modifications could be made as part
of the CFTC's ongoing efforts both to maintain an information system
that reflects changing market conditions, and to provide the public
with useful information regarding futures and options markets.
III. Specific Requests for Comment
The CFTC has formulated the following questions based upon its
initial review of issues relating to the COT Reports. Responses from
interested parties will advance the CFTC's understanding of these
issues and may result in modifications to the Commission's COT Report
processes to resolve any problems that are identified regarding the COT
Reports. Each enumerated question should be addressed individually.
Interested parties are also welcome to address other topics or issues
that they believe are relevant to the COT Reports.
1. Should the CFTC continue to publish the COT Reports on their
current schedule?
2. More specifically, if the CFTC determined to publish the COT
Reports on a more frequent basis:
(a) On what frequency and schedule (days of week or month) should
the Reports be published and why?
(b) Currently, the COT Reports are published on Friday afternoon.
Would the publication of a COT Reports on another day during the week
increase any market impact associated with the Reports publication?
(c) If the Commission were to also publish COT Reports on a non-
Friday day of the week, should the Commission consider other market
events, such as options expirations, futures roll dates, or other
market information release dates, when determining when to publish the
COT Reports more frequently?
3. Could more frequent publication of the COT Reports increase
certain risks for market participants? For example:
(a) Would more frequent publication increase the likelihood that
market participants reading the reports would be able to deduce the
identity of the position holders, or other proprietary information,
from the Reports? \13\
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\13\ Generally, the Commission may not publish data and
information that would separately disclose the business transactions
or market positions of any person and trade secrets or names of
customers. 7 U.S.C. 12.
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(b) Could such persons use information gleaned from more frequent
publication of the COT Reports to gain a trading advantage over the
reported position holders?
4. If the CFTC determined to publish the COT Reports on a more
frequent basis, should the CFTC make any additional changes to the
report not discussed in response to Questions 2 and 3 above?
(a) Considering the data reporting and authorities under Part 15,
Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, and Part 150 of the Commission's
regulations: Are there data properties and trader updates that the
Commission should consider that would impact a more frequent COT
publication?
(b) Given the FAQ's \14\ and the related policies regarding trader
classification (#3) and corrected data (#6), what data properties and
timelines should the Commission consider when considering a more
frequent publication schedule?
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\14\ The Commission's COT Reports frequently asked questions
page can be found at: <a href="https://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/index.htm#FrequentlyAskedQuestionsFAQs">https://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/index.htm#FrequentlyAskedQuestionsFAQs</a> (last
visited Apr. 22, 2026).
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5. Given the variety of market characteristics (trading hours,
trader composition, volatility variables, market size, depth and the
related derivatives), what factors should the Commission consider to
facilitate a more frequent COT Reports publication schedule?
6. Should the CFTC continue to generally publish the COT Reports
based on data from three business days prior (i.e., Friday publication
based on Tuesday close-of-business market positions)?
[[Page 24210]]
7. More specifically, if the CFTC determined to publish the COT
Reports based on more recent data:
(a) How recent should the data in the COT Reports be (for example,
Friday publication based on Wednesday close-of-business market
positions)?
(b) Would publication of the COT Reports using more recent data
increase the likelihood that persons reading the reports would be able
to deduce the identity of the position holders, or other proprietary
information, from the reports? \15\
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\15\ Generally, the Commission may not publish data and
information that would separately disclose the business transactions
or market positions of any person and trade secrets or names of
customers. 7 U.S.C. 12.
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(c) Could such persons use information gleaned from more frequent
publication of the COT Reports using more recent data to gain a trading
advantage over the reported position holders?
(d) If the CFTC determined to publish the COT Reports based on more
recent data, should the CFTC make any additional changes to the report
not discussed in response to Questions 2, 3 and 4 above?
8. Should the CFTC include all futures and option contracts that
have 20 or more traders on the COT Reports? Are there other measures
that the Commission should use when evaluating whether to include a
contract on the COT Reports?
9. Given the increased variety in the types of contracts and
products traded on designated contract markets, are there any
categories of contracts (for example, binary options) that should be
included or excluded from the COT Reports? Why or why not?
10. The current COT Reports publication schedule provides
Commission staff and reporting firms with time to identify and correct
data quality issues as described at Section I.B.4 above. If the COT
Reports were published based on more recent data, Commission staff and
reporting firms would have less time to identify and correct data
quality issues. How should the Commission consider the risk of
decreased COT Reports data accuracy when determining whether to publish
the COT Reports based on more recent data? Should the Commission
consider changing existing staff processes that are described in
Section I.B.4?
11. If the CFTC determines to publish the COT Reports either on a
more frequent basis or using more recent data or both, but is prevented
from doing so for a period of time due to a need to change its data
flows or staff processes that may inhibit such publication on a more
frequent basis or using more recent data, should the CFTC consider
phasing in such enhancements? If so, how?
(a) Should the CFTC consider publishing additional COT Reports that
are limited, for a period of time, to the categories of contracts that
would provide the most benefit to the public? What would those
categories of contracts be?
(b) Should the CFTC consider publishing additional COT Reports that
are limited, for a period of time, to certain contents that would
provide the most benefit to the public? What would those contents be?
(c) As a response to rapid market innovation, should the Commission
consider a test or beta version by market or asset class? If so, what
should the Commission consider for such a series of reports? Would the
Commission need additional data that could contribute to such market
transparency?
12. Should the CFTC consider the implementation timing of recently
adopted modifications to its large trader reporting requirements when
considering the timing of any changes to the COT Reports publication
schedule? \16\
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\16\ CFTC Staff Letter 26-02 (Jan. 26, 2026); see also Press
Release, CFTC Staff Issues No-Action Letter, Announces
Implementation Updates to 2024 Large Trader Reporting Rule, Release
No. 9174-26 (Jan. 26, 2026)(``Subject to the conditions of the no-
action letter, DMO and DOD expect market participants will be in
compliance with the Part 17 large trader reporting final rule by
July 26, 2027.'').
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13. As noted in Section I.B.4, the CFTC currently provides an
interactive Public Reporting Environment for COT Reports data.
Regarding this interactive user interface,
(a) Does it provide value to the public?
(b) Should the CFTC continue to provide this service? Why or why
not?
(c) Should the CFTC consider changes to its Public Reporting
Environment? Why or why not?
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 1, 2026, by the Commission.
Christopher Kirkpatrick,
Secretary of the Commission.
Note: The following appendix will not appear in the Code of
Federal Regulations.
Review of the Commitments of Traders Reporting Program--Commission
Voting Summary
On this matter, Chairman Selig voted in the affirmative. No
Commissioner voted in the negative.
[FR Doc. 2026-08743 Filed 5-4-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P
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