Crude Oil (WTI) COT Report
CFTC Commitments of Traders · positions as of Tuesday 2026-10-20, released Oct 23, 2026 (the CFTC reports each Tuesday's close three days later) · next release Oct 30, 2026 (regular cycle; see the release schedule for holiday shifts)
Crude Oil (WTI) positioning leans bullish - commercials buying (26w index 77), speculators crowded short (3y index 19).
How this read is built
- Commercials (hedgers) are net short and sit near the top of their 26-week range (COT index 77) - a bullish tilt in the traditional read.
- Large speculators are net long near the bottom of their 3-year range (index 19) - a crowded short, which historically leans bullish 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 89,325 Crude Oil (WTI) futures contracts (down 11,018 week-over-week), commercials are net short 116,158, and open interest is 1,835,144 contracts. Managed money was net long 36,187 contracts as of (down 4,387 week-over-week), holding 163,413 long and 127,226 short.
Cite this data
FuturesBench, "Crude Oil (WTI) COT Report," data as of 2026-10-20. https://futuresbench.com/cot/crude-oil/#net-position Source: CFTC Commitments of Traders (public domain). CSV: https://futuresbench.com/data/cot/crude-oil.csv
Embed this chart
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Positioning - as of Tuesday 2026-10-20
| Trader category | Net position | Weekly change | % of open interest | COT index 26w | COT index 52w | COT index 3y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large speculators | 89,325 | -11,018 | 4.9% | 20.6 | 21.0 | 18.6 |
| Commercials | -116,158 | +9,177 | -6.3% | 76.9 | 74.5 | 78.4 |
| Small traders | 26,833 | +1,841 | 1.5% | 23.4 | 50.2 | 53.9 |
Net = long − short (spread positions cancel). COT index: 0 = most net-short of the lookback, 100 = most net-long. How it's computed.
Disaggregated report - positions as of Tue 2026-10-20
| Trader category | Net position | Weekly change | % of open interest | COT index 26w | COT index 52w | COT index 3y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer/merchant | 359,568 | +6,425 | 19.6% | 58.8 | 85.2 | 89.2 |
| Swap dealers | -475,726 | +2,752 | -25.9% | 87.2 | 34.7 | 34.7 |
| Managed money | 36,187 | -4,387 | 2.0% | 0.0 | 49.2 | 25.5 |
| Other reportables | 53,138 | -6,631 | 2.9% | 47.3 | 37.6 | 38.1 |
| Small traders | 26,833 | +1,841 | 1.5% | 23.4 | 50.2 | 53.9 |
Full Disaggregated report history: CSV · switch the chart above to this report family for the full series.
Crude Oil (WTI) managed money positions, week by week
Managed money long, short and net position in Crude Oil (WTI) futures for the last 26 weekly COT reports (positions as of each Tuesday), from the CFTC Disaggregated futures-only report. Short = long minus net; spread positions are excluded from both.
| Report date | Managed money long | Managed money short | Managed money net | Weekly change | Producer/merchant net | Swap dealers net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 163,413 | 127,226 | 36,187 | -4,387 | 359,568 | -475,726 | |
| 171,973 | 131,399 | 40,574 | -13,024 | 353,143 | -478,478 | |
| 178,353 | 124,755 | 53,598 | -25,994 | 335,010 | -461,468 | |
| 209,028 | 129,436 | 79,592 | -22,236 | 319,539 | -462,157 | |
| 223,190 | 121,362 | 101,828 | -4,451 | 302,900 | -472,789 | |
| 221,896 | 115,617 | 106,279 | -5,452 | 307,409 | -472,267 | |
| 218,960 | 107,229 | 111,731 | +17,450 | 308,916 | -475,101 | |
| 205,300 | 111,019 | 94,281 | +10,261 | 309,402 | -465,407 | |
| 196,882 | 112,862 | 84,020 | -3,459 | 305,254 | -461,500 | |
| 195,538 | 108,059 | 87,479 | +7,563 | 315,517 | -468,604 | |
| 190,554 | 110,638 | 79,916 | -7,042 | 339,197 | -468,834 | |
| 189,518 | 102,560 | 86,958 | -5,985 | 334,920 | -488,695 | |
| 193,959 | 101,016 | 92,943 | +28,964 | 351,790 | -510,612 | |
| 187,469 | 123,490 | 63,979 | +2,005 | 383,350 | -491,951 | |
| 181,161 | 119,187 | 61,974 | -2,067 | 399,298 | -484,386 | |
| 193,113 | 129,072 | 64,041 | -17,241 | 390,293 | -494,915 | |
| 203,601 | 122,319 | 81,282 | -1,590 | 371,227 | -511,375 | |
| 209,683 | 126,811 | 82,872 | -13,356 | 378,876 | -531,482 | |
| 220,173 | 123,945 | 96,228 | +1,503 | 378,716 | -544,055 | |
| 213,483 | 118,758 | 94,725 | +3,960 | 365,942 | -536,668 | |
| 218,787 | 128,022 | 90,765 | +10,841 | 358,016 | -546,125 | |
| 200,581 | 120,657 | 79,924 | -18,295 | 366,141 | -561,614 | |
| 207,565 | 109,346 | 98,219 | +25,418 | 372,149 | -572,558 | |
| 187,332 | 114,531 | 72,801 | +2,010 | 357,407 | -553,541 | |
| 185,755 | 114,964 | 70,791 | -9,540 | 337,501 | -543,651 | |
| 193,329 | 112,998 | 80,331 | -19,556 | 320,120 | -539,774 |
Every week back to 2006: Crude Oil (WTI) disaggregated CSV.
Recent history
| Report date | Open interest | Large spec net | Δ | Commercial net | Δ | Small trader net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-20 | 1,835,144 | 89,325 | -11,018 | -116,158 | +9,177 | 26,833 |
| 2026-10-13 | 1,900,179 | 100,343 | +1,283 | -125,335 | +1,123 | 24,992 |
| 2026-10-06 | 1,889,422 | 99,060 | -10,403 | -126,458 | +16,160 | 27,398 |
| 2026-09-29 | 1,878,576 | 109,463 | -31,643 | -142,618 | +27,271 | 33,155 |
| 2026-09-22 | 1,841,811 | 141,106 | +5,201 | -169,889 | -5,031 | 28,783 |
| 2026-09-15 | 1,955,764 | 135,905 | -674 | -164,858 | +1,327 | 28,953 |
| 2026-09-08 | 1,939,911 | 136,579 | +6,668 | -166,185 | -10,180 | 29,606 |
| 2026-09-01 | 1,921,085 | 129,911 | +6,462 | -156,005 | +241 | 26,094 |
| 2026-08-25 | 1,906,740 | 123,449 | +1,359 | -156,246 | -3,159 | 32,797 |
| 2026-08-18 | 1,888,960 | 122,090 | +22,894 | -153,087 | -23,450 | 30,997 |
| 2026-08-11 | 1,892,429 | 99,196 | -13,247 | -129,637 | +24,138 | 30,441 |
| 2026-08-04 | 1,886,816 | 112,443 | -7,665 | -153,775 | +5,047 | 41,332 |
| 2026-07-28 | 1,859,795 | 120,108 | +38,419 | -158,822 | -50,221 | 38,714 |
| 2026-07-21 | 1,864,487 | 81,689 | +19,006 | -108,601 | -23,513 | 26,912 |
| 2026-07-14 | 1,875,496 | 62,683 | -13,066 | -85,088 | +19,534 | 22,405 |
| 2026-07-07 | 1,905,761 | 75,749 | -34,782 | -104,622 | +35,526 | 28,873 |
| 2026-06-30 | 1,914,443 | 110,531 | -4,102 | -140,148 | +12,458 | 29,617 |
| 2026-06-23 | 1,911,877 | 114,633 | -9,850 | -152,606 | +12,733 | 37,973 |
| 2026-06-16 | 2,007,709 | 124,483 | -5,818 | -165,339 | +5,387 | 40,856 |
| 2026-06-09 | 2,006,635 | 130,301 | -25,573 | -170,726 | +17,383 | 40,425 |
| 2026-06-02 | 2,025,180 | 155,874 | -5,124 | -188,109 | +7,364 | 32,235 |
| 2026-05-26 | 2,003,795 | 160,998 | -11,582 | -195,473 | +4,936 | 34,475 |
| 2026-05-19 | 2,002,950 | 172,580 | +2,703 | -200,409 | -4,275 | 27,829 |
| 2026-05-12 | 2,081,927 | 169,877 | -8,909 | -196,134 | +10,016 | 26,257 |
| 2026-05-05 | 2,067,827 | 178,786 | -13,125 | -206,150 | +13,504 | 27,364 |
| 2026-04-28 | 2,017,038 | 191,911 | -391 | -219,654 | +7,057 | 27,743 |
Full history, no login: CSV (1986-01-15 → 2026-10-20) · JSON
Contract facts
FAQ
- Are large speculators long or short Crude Oil (WTI) futures?
- As of the 2026-10-20 COT report, large speculators (non-commercial traders) are net long 89,325 contracts in Crude Oil (WTI) futures.
- What is the managed money position in Crude Oil (WTI) futures?
- As of the 2026-10-20 COT report, managed money traders are net long 36,187 contracts (163,413 long, 127,226 short) in Crude Oil (WTI) futures. The week-by-week table on this page lists the last 26 reports.
- How current is this Crude Oil (WTI) COT data?
- The latest report is dated 2026-10-20 (positions as of that Tuesday's close), published by the CFTC on 2026-10-23. This page updates within minutes of each weekly release.
- Where can I download Crude Oil (WTI) COT history?
- The full weekly series (1986-01-15 to 2026-10-20) is free at /data/cot/crude-oil.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 067651. Dataset coverage 1986-01-15 → 2026-10-20. Methodology.