CFTC plans to publish Commitments of Traders data twice a week by the end of 2026, cutting the lag to two days

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to publish its Commitments of Traders (COT) report twice a week instead of once, by the end of 2026. CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig announced the plan on 27 October. The current weekly schedule remains in place until the change takes effect.

Under the planned schedule, data from Monday will be published on Wednesday, and data from Wednesday will be published on Friday, according to the CFTC. Both reports are to be released at 3:30pm ET (20:30 GMT after US clocks change on 1 November). The CFTC says the reports’ latency will decrease from three days to two.

“COT Reports have been an important source of transparency for decades. Following feedback from the agricultural community, I’m pleased to announce the CFTC will be rolling out COT Reports twice a week to ensure this information stream is as useful as possible,” Selig said.

How it works now

The COT reports show aggregate positions held by large traders in futures and options markets. According to the CFTC’s request for comment published in May, a market is typically included when 20 or more traders hold positions above the large-trader reporting threshold. The CFTC generally publishes on Friday afternoons, using Tuesday position data that reporting firms send on Wednesday.

The request for comment set out how much of the week goes on checking that data. For missing account identifications, many reporting firms collect and verify the information on Wednesday and send it with their data on Thursday morning; foreign firms generally do not start sending corrected data until Thursday. Staff in the Division of Data and the Division of Market Oversight review the data and trader classifications, and follow up with firms throughout Thursday and sometimes into Friday. The reports are then held under embargo until 3:30pm ET on Friday (19:30 GMT until US clocks change on 1 November, 20:30 GMT after).

What the CFTC asked, and what it has decided

The May request (91 FR 24207, comments due 4 June) asked whether the reports should be published more often and on which days. It also asked whether they should use more recent data, for example a Friday report on Wednesday positions. That is the second of the two releases now planned.

It also asked about risks. These included whether more frequent or more recent reports would make it easier to work out the identity of position holders, or let others “gain a trading advantage over the reported position holders”. It noted that staff and reporting firms “would have less time to identify and correct data quality issues”. It asked whether the change should be phased in, possibly starting with selected contracts.

The 27 October announcement says the Division of Data is leading the work “through modernization and automation while maintaining accuracy”. It does not give a start date beyond “by the end of 2026”. It does not say whether every COT report series, or every market now covered, will move to the new schedule, or whether other questions in the request, such as which contracts are included, will lead to further changes. The release refers to more timely information on “trading positions and activity in agricultural markets”.

Why it matters

For futures desks, systematic funds and analysts who use COT data as a positioning signal, the plan would mean two releases a week instead of one, and fresher data. A Wednesday release would add a mid-week positioning update that does not exist at present, and its timing will need to fit around other releases and market events, something the CFTC itself raised. The Friday report would move from Tuesday to Wednesday data.

Less time between the position date and publication also means less time to fix errors. The CFTC has said accuracy will be maintained but has not explained how its current Wednesday-to-Friday checking process will fit into two days.

What we are watching

• A firm start date and an updated publication calendar from the CFTC.
• Whether the change covers all COT report series and markets, or is phased in.
• Any change to the rules on which contracts are included, including newer products such as binary options, which the request asked about.