Natural Gas (Henry Hub) COT Report

CFTC Commitments of Traders · report date 2026-07-21 (released Jul 24, 2026) · next report expected Jul 31, 2026 (regular cycle; see the release schedule for holiday shifts)

As of the Jul 21, 2026 COT report, large speculators are net short 171,138 Natural Gas (Henry Hub) futures contracts (up 7,474 week-over-week), commercials are net long 159,102, and open interest is 1,679,435 contracts.

-171,138
Large speculators net
159,102
Commercials net
22.7
COT index (3-year)
1,679,435
Open interest

Positioning — week of 2026-07-21

Trader categoryNet positionWeekly change% of open interestCOT index 26wCOT index 52wCOT index 3y
Large speculators-171,138+7,474-10.2%82.429.222.7
Commercials159,102-6,4269.5%25.674.680.2
Small traders12,036-1,0480.7%23.036.133.5

Net = long − short (spread positions cancel). COT index: 0 = most net-short of the lookback, 100 = most net-long. How it's computed.

Net positions since 1990

-240k-160k-80k080k160k2025-072025-092025-112025-122026-022026-032026-052026-07Large speculatorsCommercials
-240k-160k-80k080k160k2021-082022-042023-012023-092024-062025-022025-112026-07Large speculatorsCommercials
-300k-200k-100k0100k200k1990-041996-082001-072006-082011-072016-072021-072026-07Large speculatorsCommercials

Disaggregated breakdown — week of 2026-07-21

CategoryNet positionWeekly change
Producer/merchant-33,107-4,975
Swap dealers192,209-1,451
Managed money-102,756+2,953
Other reportables-68,382+4,521
Small traders12,036-1,048

Recent history

Report dateOpen interestLarge spec netΔCommercial netΔSmall trader net
2026-07-211,679,435-171,138+7,474159,102-6,42612,036
2026-07-141,663,336-178,612-13,305165,528+16,02413,084
2026-07-071,669,775-165,307+5,496149,504-4,43615,803
2026-06-301,634,535-170,803+5,886153,940-7,82716,863
2026-06-231,613,059-176,689-3,213161,767-98714,922
2026-06-161,644,546-173,476+20,481162,754-12,98410,722
2026-06-091,637,740-193,957-7,842175,738+1,82518,219
2026-06-021,664,003-186,115+17,066173,913-16,26512,202
2026-05-261,640,082-203,181-10,985190,178+15,95413,003
2026-05-191,599,429-192,196-15,890174,224+14,98117,972
2026-05-121,628,279-176,306-9,660159,243+6,09317,063
2026-05-051,628,637-166,646-373153,150+2,11513,496
2026-04-281,578,600-166,273+2,042151,035+71915,238
2026-04-211,576,663-168,315+18,573150,316-20,59617,999
2026-04-141,585,240-186,888-2,901170,912+8,82515,976
2026-04-071,558,863-183,987-16,531162,087+13,65921,900
2026-03-311,514,508-167,456+5,151148,428-4,32019,028
2026-03-241,504,052-172,607+5,422152,748-4,65819,859
2026-03-171,560,291-178,029+8,827157,406-6,76620,623
2026-03-101,565,341-186,856+19,566164,172-20,18822,684
2026-03-031,606,292-206,422-7,903184,360+1,17922,062
2026-02-241,619,531-198,519-12,707183,181+8,38315,338
2026-02-171,613,556-185,812-13,947174,798+15,35611,014
2026-02-101,623,408-171,865+445159,442-4,01412,423
2026-02-031,655,983-172,310-8,704163,456+10,6898,854
2026-01-271,625,943-163,606+29,884152,767-29,29310,839

Full history, no login: CSV (1990-04-12 → 2026-07-21) · JSON

Contract facts

(Contracts of 10,000 MMBTU'S)
Contract unit (CFTC)
NG
Ticker
NYMEX
Exchange
023651
CFTC contract code

FAQ

Are large speculators long or short Natural Gas (Henry Hub) futures?
As of the 2026-07-21 COT report, large speculators (non-commercial traders) are net short 171,138 contracts in Natural Gas (Henry Hub) futures.
How current is this Natural Gas (Henry Hub) COT data?
The latest report is dated 2026-07-21 (positions as of that Tuesday's close), published by the CFTC on 2026-07-24. This page updates within minutes of each weekly release.
Where can I download Natural Gas (Henry Hub) COT history?
The full weekly series (1990-04-12 to 2026-07-21) is free at /data/cot/natural-gas.csv — no login, no cap.
All COT markets Natural Gas And Products Natural Gas (Henry Hub) CSV Nat Gas ICE LD1 COT Nat Gas ICE PEN COT Propane Opis Mt Belvieu Tet Fp COT Propane COT Propane Opis Mt Belv Nontet Fp COT Chicago Citygate (Index) COT

Source: CFTC Commitments of Traders, legacy futures-only report, contract code 023651. Dataset coverage 1990-04-12 → 2026-07-21. Methodology.