WTI physical (NYMEX)
WTI Crude Oil positioning
Price series: WTI futures (front month) · positions as of Tuesday Sep 15, 2026, published Friday Sep 18, 2026
Price and positioning are rising together: the trend is well supported.
price +14.1% · managed money net position +42,300 (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.
Leaning short, but not yet at an extreme.
Leaning long, but not yet at an extreme.
Middle of its own historical range — nothing stretched.
Leaning long, but not yet at an extreme.
Leaning short, but not yet at an extreme.
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) | 371,202 | 235,297 | 135,905 | -674 | 31 |
| Commercial (hedgers) | 895,203 | 1,060,061 | -164,858 | +1,327 | 66 |
| Managed money | 221,896 | 115,617 | 106,279 | -5,452 | 43 |
| Producers / merchants | 643,221 | 335,812 | 307,409 | -1,507 | 77 |
| Swap dealers | 118,240 | 590,507 | -472,267 | +2,834 | 36 |
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 uptrendJul 7, 2026 → Sep 15, 2026price +42.7% · net position +42,238 contracts
- Bearish divergenceMay 26, 2026 → Aug 11, 2026price -5.7% · net position -8 contracts
- Convergence — healthy downtrendMay 19, 2026 → Jul 14, 2026price -14.6% · net position -36,245 contracts
- Bullish divergenceApr 7, 2026 → Jun 30, 2026price -28.8% · net position +2,582 contracts
- Bearish divergenceMar 17, 2026 → May 12, 2026price +7.2% · net position -23,570 contracts
- Convergence — healthy downtrendMar 10, 2026 → May 5, 2026price -3.3% · net position -21,331 contracts
- Convergence — healthy uptrendNov 18, 2025 → Apr 28, 2026price +75.6% · net position +93,002 contracts
- Bullish divergenceOct 21, 2025 → Jan 6, 2026price -3.9% · net position +62,682 contracts
- Bearish divergenceOct 7, 2025 → Dec 2, 2025price +2.0% · net position -17,287 contracts
- Convergence — healthy downtrendJun 10, 2025 → Nov 25, 2025price -19.8% · net position -198,587 contracts
- Bearish divergenceMay 20, 2025 → Jul 29, 2025price +9.4% · net position -14,492 contracts
- Convergence — healthy uptrendApr 8, 2025 → Jul 8, 2025price +11.3% · net position +97,158 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.