COT report types: Legacy, Supplemental, Disaggregated and TFF

The four COT report families

All four reports draw on the CFTC’s large-trader position data. They normally show positions and open interest as of Tuesday and are published on Friday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Their scope and categories differ, so the category totals are not interchangeable. The CFTC lists all four reports and their official categories in its Commitments of Traders overview.

Legacy is the broad view across covered markets. The Supplemental report adds Commodity Index Traders (CIT) for selected agricultural contracts. Disaggregated provides more detail for physical commodities. Traders in Financial Futures (TFF) groups financial-market participants by business type.

Format availability also differs. Legacy and Disaggregated are published in Short and Long formats. TFF is Long format only, while Supplemental is Short format only. Legacy, Disaggregated and TFF each have Futures Only and Futures and Options Combined editions; Supplemental uses Combined data only.

Legacy: two reportable categories, the longest history

Legacy classifies reportable traders as commercial or non-commercial. A trader is generally classified as commercial when it uses futures or options in that commodity to hedge business risk. The label applies to all of the trader’s reported positions in that commodity, including positions that may serve another purpose.

Nonreportable positions are different. On each side, the CFTC derives them by subtracting all reportable positions, including Spreading where shown, from open interest. The public report gives neither a trader count nor a business classification for this remainder. Legacy Futures Only history is available from January 15, 1986; Combined history begins in 1995. Individual contract series may start later. That depth is why our positioning board uses Legacy futures-only data for its main historical view.

Supplemental/CIT: index traders in selected agriculture

The Supplemental report covers selected agricultural contracts and is available only as Futures and Options Combined data. It identifies Commodity Index Traders alongside the broader Legacy categories. These traders are drawn from both commercial and non-commercial classifications.

Its purpose is narrow: it shows index-related positioning in the contracts it covers. It complements Legacy and Disaggregated rather than replacing either one. Supplemental history is available from January 3, 2006.

Disaggregated: physical commodities by business activity

The Disaggregated report covers physical commodity contracts across agriculture, energy, metals and electricity. It separates reportable traders into four categories. Producer/Merchant/Processor/User includes entities whose physical commodity business creates risk they manage in futures. Swap dealers use futures to manage risk from commodity swaps. Managed money includes commodity trading advisers (CTAs), commodity pool operators (CPOs) and funds. Other reportables includes reportable traders that do not fit the first three categories.

This view helps distinguish changes among physical-market firms, swap dealers and managed funds. Its four categories can be aggregated into the two broader Legacy classifications, but they still describe a trader’s main business activity, not the purpose of every position. The CFTC explains the definitions and limitations in its Disaggregated explanatory notes.

TFF: financial contracts by market role

Interest rates, equity indices and currencies use the TFF report. Dealer/Intermediary covers banks and other intermediaries that price financial products, serve clients and manage the related risk. Asset Manager/Institutional, Leveraged Funds and Other Reportables cover different institutional and investment businesses. Participants may invest, speculate, hedge or manage risk; the categories describe their main business role rather than the motive for every trade.

TFF is not a direct subdivision of Legacy. A TFF category may contain traders classified as either commercial or non-commercial in Legacy, so Legacy moves do not map one-to-one to a TFF group. This distinction is documented in the CFTC’s TFF explanatory notes.

Historical Disaggregated and TFF data is available from June 13, 2006. Individual contract series may begin later. Because the CFTC did not retain historical classification records, it created this backcast by applying later trader classifications to older positions. Its classification detail generally becomes less reliable farther back in time.

Which report should you use?

Use Legacy when you want one consistent view across covered markets and the longest available history. For physical commodities, use Disaggregated to compare producers, swap dealers and managed money. For financial contracts, use TFF to compare dealers, asset managers and leveraged funds. Use Supplemental when index-trader positioning in its selected agricultural contracts is the specific question.

On our market pages, Legacy is paired with the relevant detailed view. Start with Gold, WTI Crude Oil or Euro FX. The Disaggregated and TFF breakdowns are part of Pro.

Common questions