Live cattle (CME)
Live Cattle positioning
Price series: Live cattle futures (front month) · positions as of Tuesday Sep 15, 2026, published Friday Sep 18, 2026
Price and positioning are falling together: the downtrend is well supported.
price -5.0% · managed money net position -27,985 (contracts, over 8 weekly reports)
Price vs positioning (contracts)
Price on top, and what the big traders were holding underneath it.
COT Index
0–100 · vs last 3 yearsHow extreme today's positioning is compared with this group's own history.
Each group's current net position, rescaled 0–100 against its own high and low over the selected lookback. 0 = most bearish it has been in that window, 100 = most bullish. Unitless by design, so markets of very different sizes can be compared.
Near the most bearish this group has been in the window.
Near the most bullish this group has been in the window.
Leaning short, but not yet at an extreme.
Near the most bullish this group has been in the window.
Near the most bullish this group has been in the window.
COT Index = ((Current − Min) / (Max − Min)) × 100, over the last 3 years
Method credit: the 0–100 normalization goes back to Larry Williams' COT work in the 1980s and was developed and popularized by Stephen Briese, author of The Commitments of Traders Bible.
Disagreement Index
contracts · index 0–100How far apart two trader groups are right now.
Gap = group A's net position minus group B's, measured in contracts. The Disagreement Index rescales that difference 0–100 against its own last 3 years: 0 = the two groups as close together as they get, 100 = as far apart as they get.
The two groups are unusually close together.
Left axis: gap in contracts (positive = Managed money is more net long than Producers / merchants). Right axis: disagreement index, 0–100. Gap tracks Managed money − Producers / merchants.
Latest week by category
What each trader group was holding in the most recent report.
Positions as of Tuesday Sep 15, 2026, published Friday Sep 18, 2026, compared with the prior weekly report. Positive net = net long; negative net = net short. COT index is measured over the last 3 years.
| Category | Long (contracts) | Short (contracts) | Net (contracts) | Weekly change (contracts) | COT index (0–100, 3y) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-commercial (large specs) | 94,407 | 65,639 | 28,768 | -255 | 6 |
| Commercial (hedgers) | 110,994 | 132,098 | -21,104 | +525 | 96 |
| Managed money | 80,686 | 32,990 | 47,696 | -1,209 | 24 |
| Producers / merchants | 39,830 | 126,158 | -86,328 | +534 | 81 |
| Swap dealers | 69,890 | 4,666 | 65,224 | -9 | 89 |
Signal log — Managed money
Every past signal in this market, and what price did afterwards.
Every rolling 8-week window classified as a bullish or bearish divergence, or as convergence where price and positioning agree. Price change is in percent; net change is in contracts.
Each row covers one stretch of weekly reports: the % is the price change over that stretch, the net figure is the change in the group's net position, in contracts.
- Convergence — healthy downtrendMay 5, 2026 → Sep 15, 2026price -13.4% · net position -90,322 contracts
- Bearish divergenceApr 21, 2026 → Jun 23, 2026price +3.7% · net position -7,233 contracts
- Convergence — healthy uptrendNov 18, 2025 → May 19, 2026price +16.3% · net position +31,720 contracts
- Bearish divergenceNov 4, 2025 → Jan 6, 2026price +5.6% · net position -13,773 contracts
- Convergence — healthy downtrendSep 9, 2025 → Dec 23, 2025price -0.1% · net position -33,958 contracts
- Bearish divergenceJun 10, 2025 → Aug 19, 2025price +6.6% · net position -11,239 contracts
- Convergence — healthy uptrendApr 8, 2025 → Jun 24, 2025price +11.0% · net position +9,936 contracts
- Bearish divergenceMar 25, 2025 → May 27, 2025price +3.2% · net position -12,941 contracts
- Convergence — healthy uptrendMar 4, 2025 → May 13, 2025price +6.0% · net position +17,365 contracts
- Bearish divergenceDec 24, 2024 → Apr 22, 2025price +10.7% · net position -16,743 contracts
- Convergence — healthy uptrendAug 13, 2024 → Feb 4, 2025price +9.8% · net position +104,225 contracts
- Convergence — healthy downtrendJun 18, 2024 → Sep 17, 2024price -2.7% · net position -12,176 contracts
Source: CFTC Commitments of Traders — positions as of Tuesday, published the following Friday. All position figures are futures contracts unless the % of open interest view is selected. Positioning is a sentiment tool, not a timing signal. Not investment advice.