What is the S&P 500 COT report?

It is the weekly CFTC Commitments of Traders breakdown for E-mini S&P 500 (CME): how many long and short futures contracts each group of large traders held as of the prior Tuesday, published the following Friday.

How do you read S&P 500 net positioning?

Net position is long contracts minus short contracts for one trader group. A positive net means the group leans bullish; the weekly change matters more than the raw level.

What does the S&P 500 COT index mean?

The COT index rescales a group's net position 0-100 against its own high and low over the chosen lookback. Above 80 is close to the most bullish that group has been; below 20 is close to the most bearish.

What is a bearish divergence in S&P 500?

A bearish divergence is S&P 500 Index making new highs while the tracked trader group reduces its net long position — the rally is losing the sponsorship of the money that usually drives it.

E-mini S&P 500 (CME)

S&P 500 positioning

Price series: S&P 500 Index · positions as of Tuesday Sep 15, 2026, published Friday Sep 18, 2026

Last weekly close · S&P 500 Index

7,638

Asset managers net position (contracts)

904,684

Bearish divergenceJul 21, 2026 → Sep 15, 2026 · 8-week windowconfirmed by 2 categories

Price is rising while this group reduces exposure — the move is losing committed buyers.

price +3.0% · asset managers net position -24,475 (contracts, over 8 weekly reports)

Price vs positioning (contracts)

Price on top, and what the big traders were holding underneath it.

Price — S&P 500 Index

Net position (contracts) — Net position = long contracts minus short contracts. Above the zero line = net long.

Signal classification tracks bullish divergencebearish divergenceconvergence (healthy trend)

COT Index

0–100 · vs last 3 years

How 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.

Non-commercial (large specs)39 · neutral

Leaning short, but not yet at an extreme.

Commercial (hedgers)61 · neutral

Leaning long, but not yet at an extreme.

Asset managers60 · neutral

Leaning long, but not yet at an extreme.

Leveraged funds68 · neutral

Leaning long, but not yet at an extreme.

0 · most bearish50 · mid-range100 · most bullish

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.

Asset managers — COT index history (0–100, rolling 3 years window)

Disagreement Index

contracts · index 0–100

How 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.

Disagreement Index · vs last 3 years

Disagreement sits in its normal historical range — nothing stretched.

Current gap (contracts)

-1,197,827 contracts

Left axis: gap in contracts (positive = Leveraged funds is more net long than Asset managers). Right axis: disagreement index, 0–100. Gap tracks Leveraged funds − Asset managers.

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)	240,290	340,751	-100,461	-24,425	39
Commercial (hedgers)	1,825,396	1,816,205	9,191	+59,208	61
Asset managers	1,142,075	237,391	904,684	-7,677	60
Leveraged funds	161,176	454,319	-293,143	+47,961	68

Signal log — Asset managers

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.

Bearish divergenceJun 9, 2026 → Sep 15, 2026price +2.8% · net position -79,402 contracts
Convergence — healthy downtrendMay 26, 2026 → Jul 21, 2026price -2.2% · net position -74,448 contracts
Bearish divergenceApr 14, 2026 → Jul 7, 2026price +6.3% · net position -32,551 contracts
Convergence — healthy uptrendFeb 17, 2026 → Jun 2, 2026price +6.9% · net position +4,994 contracts
Convergence — healthy downtrendJan 13, 2026 → Mar 31, 2026price -5.1% · net position -15,582 contracts
Bullish divergenceJan 6, 2026 → Mar 3, 2026price -3.2% · net position +43,429 contracts
Bearish divergenceDec 9, 2025 → Feb 3, 2026price +1.5% · net position -27,299 contracts
Convergence — healthy uptrendOct 14, 2025 → Jan 13, 2026price +4.1% · net position +9,397 contracts
Bearish divergenceSep 30, 2025 → Nov 25, 2025price +2.0% · net position -30,500 contracts
Convergence — healthy uptrendApr 22, 2025 → Oct 28, 2025price +23.8% · net position +93,678 contracts
Bearish divergenceMar 25, 2025 → May 27, 2025price +5.9% · net position -59,249 contracts
Convergence — healthy uptrendMar 18, 2025 → May 13, 2025price +5.1% · net position +24,221 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.