Cotton No. 2 COT Report
CFTC Commitments of Traders · positions as of Tuesday 2026-09-01, released Sep 4, 2026 (the CFTC reports each Tuesday's close three days later) · next release Sep 11, 2026 (regular cycle; see the release schedule for holiday shifts)
Cotton No. 2 positioning leans bearish - commercials selling (26w index 0), speculators crowded long (3y index 100).
How this read is built
- Commercials (hedgers) are net short and sit near the bottom of their 26-week range (COT index 0) - a bearish tilt in the traditional read.
- Large speculators are net long near the top of their 3-year range (index 100) - a crowded long, which historically leans bearish for the setup.
A description of how traders are positioned versus their own history - the standard Commitments of Traders interpretation, computed identically for every market. It is not a price forecast, a trading signal, or advice. How traders use positioning · how the read is computed.
As of the COT report, large speculators are net long 130,721 Cotton No. 2 futures contracts (up 7,818 week-over-week), commercials are net short 141,900, and open interest is 383,730 contracts. Managed money was net long 100,963 contracts as of (up 28,291 week-over-week).
Cite this data
FuturesBench, "Cotton No. 2 COT Report," data as of 2026-09-01. https://futuresbench.com/cot/cotton/#net-position Source: CFTC Commitments of Traders (public domain). CSV: https://futuresbench.com/data/cot/cotton.csv
Embed this chart
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Positioning - as of Tuesday 2026-09-01
| Trader category | Net position | Weekly change | % of open interest | COT index 26w | COT index 52w | COT index 3y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large speculators | 130,721 | +7,818 | 34.1% | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Commercials | -141,900 | -8,452 | -37.0% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Small traders | 11,179 | +634 | 2.9% | 70.3 | 79.4 | 79.9 |
Net = long − short (spread positions cancel). COT index: 0 = most net-short of the lookback, 100 = most net-long. How it's computed.
This week in numbers
- Large speculators net position of 130,721 contracts is a record high for this market.
- Commercials net position of -141,900 contracts is a record low for this market.
- Open interest rose 2.4% to 383,730 contracts, a 1930-week high.
- Large speculators raised their net position for a 5th consecutive week.
- Commercials reduced their net position for a 5th consecutive week.
Every sentence above is computed from the stored series - no commentary, no forecasts.
Disaggregated report - positions as of Tue 2026-09-01
| Trader category | Net position | Weekly change | % of open interest | COT index 26w | COT index 52w | COT index 3y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer/merchant | -178,611 | -19,222 | -46.5% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Swap dealers | 36,711 | -3,477 | 9.6% | 33.0 | 33.0 | 36.7 |
| Managed money | 100,963 | +28,291 | 26.3% | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Other reportables | 29,758 | -5,218 | 7.8% | 0.0 | 36.1 | 51.7 |
| Small traders | 11,179 | -374 | 2.9% | 70.3 | 79.4 | 79.9 |
Full Disaggregated report history: CSV · switch the chart above to this report family for the full series.
Recent history
| Report date | Open interest | Large spec net | Δ | Commercial net | Δ | Small trader net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-01 | 383,730 | 130,721 | +7,818 | -141,900 | -8,452 | 11,179 |
| 2026-08-25 | 374,859 | 122,903 | +15,255 | -133,448 | -14,247 | 10,545 |
| 2026-08-18 | 361,871 | 107,648 | +4,393 | -119,201 | -5,675 | 11,553 |
| 2026-08-11 | 349,370 | 103,255 | +6,879 | -113,526 | -8,400 | 10,271 |
| 2026-08-04 | 331,500 | 96,376 | +2,845 | -105,126 | -4,759 | 8,750 |
| 2026-07-28 | 323,777 | 93,531 | -1,581 | -100,367 | +2,311 | 6,836 |
| 2026-07-21 | 317,825 | 95,112 | -335 | -102,678 | +2,600 | 7,566 |
| 2026-07-14 | 322,307 | 95,447 | +7,019 | -105,278 | -9,739 | 9,831 |
| 2026-07-07 | 318,052 | 88,428 | +10,580 | -95,539 | -12,017 | 7,111 |
| 2026-06-30 | 305,708 | 77,848 | -5,710 | -83,522 | +6,932 | 5,674 |
| 2026-06-23 | 302,703 | 83,558 | +4,881 | -90,454 | -5,975 | 6,896 |
| 2026-06-16 | 306,642 | 78,677 | +2,720 | -84,479 | -2,562 | 5,802 |
| 2026-06-09 | 324,979 | 75,957 | -9,249 | -81,917 | +11,504 | 5,960 |
| 2026-06-02 | 345,818 | 85,206 | -2,468 | -93,421 | +3,330 | 8,215 |
| 2026-05-26 | 331,157 | 87,674 | -4,796 | -96,751 | +6,794 | 9,077 |
| 2026-05-19 | 329,298 | 92,470 | -9,919 | -103,545 | +13,614 | 11,075 |
| 2026-05-12 | 335,218 | 102,389 | +1,707 | -117,159 | -2,228 | 14,770 |
| 2026-05-05 | 332,623 | 100,682 | +19,741 | -114,931 | -21,927 | 14,249 |
| 2026-04-28 | 323,836 | 80,941 | -1,626 | -93,004 | +2,139 | 12,063 |
| 2026-04-21 | 329,774 | 82,567 | +12,817 | -95,143 | -13,449 | 12,576 |
| 2026-04-14 | 328,443 | 69,750 | +8,393 | -81,694 | -11,851 | 11,944 |
| 2026-04-07 | 346,121 | 61,357 | +12,970 | -69,843 | -11,895 | 8,486 |
| 2026-03-31 | 347,695 | 48,387 | +26,120 | -57,948 | -28,974 | 9,561 |
| 2026-03-24 | 327,959 | 22,267 | +6,042 | -28,974 | -5,252 | 6,707 |
| 2026-03-17 | 341,326 | 16,225 | +37,256 | -23,722 | -42,072 | 7,497 |
| 2026-03-10 | 329,892 | -21,031 | +7,066 | 18,350 | -6,173 | 2,681 |
Full history, no login: CSV (1986-01-15 → 2026-09-01) · JSON
Contract facts
FAQ
- Are large speculators long or short Cotton No. 2 futures?
- As of the 2026-09-01 COT report, large speculators (non-commercial traders) are net long 130,721 contracts in Cotton No. 2 futures.
- How current is this Cotton No. 2 COT data?
- The latest report is dated 2026-09-01 (positions as of that Tuesday's close), published by the CFTC on 2026-09-04. This page updates within minutes of each weekly release.
- Where can I download Cotton No. 2 COT history?
- The full weekly series (1986-01-15 to 2026-09-01) is free at /data/cot/cotton.csv - no login, no cap.
Learn: how to read this report · commercials vs non-commercials · glossary
Related markets
Source: CFTC Commitments of Traders, legacy futures-only report, contract code 033661. Dataset coverage 1986-01-15 → 2026-09-01. Methodology.