Option traders definition

The aggregate of all long open interest is equal to the aggregate of all short open interest. Open interest held or controlled by a trader is referred to as that trader's position. For the COT Futures-and-Options-Combined report, option open interest and traders' option positions are computed on a futures-equivalent basis using delta factors supplied by the exchanges.

Long-call and short-put open interest are converted to long futures-equivalent open interest. Likewise, short-call and long-put open interest are converted to short futures-equivalent open interest. For example, a trader holding a long put position of contracts with a delta factor of 0. A trader's long and short futures-equivalent positions are added to the trader's long and short futures positions to give "combined-long" and "combined-short" positions.

Traders interest, definition reported to the Commission and as used in the COT report, does not include open futures contracts against which notices of deliveries have been stopped by a trader or issued by the clearing organization of an exchange. Clearing members, futures commission merchants, and foreign brokers collectively called reporting firms file daily reports with the Commission. Those reports show the futures and option positions of traders that hold positions above specific reporting levels set by CFTC regulations.

From time to time, the Commission will raise or lower the reporting levels in specific markets to strike a balance between collecting sufficient information to oversee the markets and minimizing the reporting burden on the futures industry. When an individual traders trader is identified to the Commission, the trader is classified either as "commercial" or "non-commercial.

A trading entity generally gets classified as a "commercial" trader by filing a statement with the Commission, on CFTC Form Statement of Reporting Trader, that it is commercially " A trader may be classified as a commercial trader in some commodities and as a non-commercial trader in other commodities.

A single trading entity cannot be classified as both a commercial and non-commercial trader in the same commodity. Nonetheless, a multi-functional organization that has more than one trading entity may have each trading entity classified separately in a commodity.

For example, a financial organization trading in financial futures may have a banking entity whose positions are classified as commercial and have a separate money-management entity whose positions are classified as non-commercial. The long and short open interest shown as "Nonreportable Positions" is derived by subtracting total long and short "Reportable Positions" from the total open interest.

For the futures-only report, spreading measures the extent to which each non-commercial trader holds equal long and short futures positions. For the options-and-futures-combined report, spreading measures the extent to which each non-commercial trader holds equal combined-long and combined-short positions.

For example, if a non-commercial trader in Eurodollar futures holds 2, long contracts and 1, short contracts, contracts will appear in the "Long" category and 1, contracts will appear in the "Spreading" category. These figures do not include intermarket spreading, such as spreading Eurodollar futures against Treasury Note definition. Also see the "Old and Other Traders section, below.

Changes represent the differences between the data for the current option date and the data published in the previous report. Percents are calculated against the total open interest for option futures-only report and against the option futures-equivalent open interest for the options-and-futures-combined report. Percents less than 0. To determine the total number of reportable traders in a market, a trader is counted only once whether or not the trader appears in more than one category non-commercial traders may be long or short only and may be definition commercial traders may be long and short.

To determine the number of traders in each category, however, a trader is counted in each category in which the trader holds a position. The sum of the numbers of traders in each category, therefore, will often exceed the number of traders in traders market. For selected commodities where there is a well-defined marketing season or crop year, the COT data are broken down by "old" and "other" crop years.

The "Major Markets for Which the COT Data Is Shown by Crop Year" table shown below lists those commodities and the first and last futures of the marketing season or crop year. In order not to disclose positions in a single future near its expiration, on the first business day of the month of the last future in an "old" crop year, the data for that last future is combined with the data for the next crop year and is shown as "old" crop futures.

An example is CBOT wheat, where the first month of the crop year is July and the last month of the prior crop year is May. On May 3,definition in the May futures month were aggregated with positions in the July through May futures months option shown as "old" crop futures.

Positions in all subsequent wheat futures months were shown as "other. For the "old" and "other" figures, spreading is calculated for equal long and short positions within a crop year. If a non-commercial trader holds a long position in an "old" crop-year future and an definition short position in an "other" crop-year future, the long position will be classified as "long-only" in the "old" crop year and the short position will be classified as "short-only" in the "other" crop year.

In this example, in the "all" category, which considers each trader's positions without regard to crop year, that trader's positions will be classified as "spreading. Any differences result from traders that spread from an "old" option future to an "other" crop-year future.

The report traders the percents of open interest held by the largest four and eight reportable traders, without regard to whether they are classified as commercial or non-commercial.

The concentration ratios are option with trader positions computed on a gross long and gross short basis and on a net long or net short basis. A reportable trader with relatively large, balanced long and short positions in a single market, option, may be among the four and eight definition traders in both the gross long and gross short categories, but will probably not be included among the four and eight largest traders on a net basis.

These traders are drawn from the noncommercial and commercial categories. The noncommercial category includes positions of managed funds, pension funds, and other investors that are generally seeking exposure to a broad index of commodity prices as an asset class in an unleveraged and passively-managed manner.

The commercial category includes positions definition entities whose trading predominantly reflects hedging of over-the-counter transactions involving commodity indices—for example, a swap dealer holding long futures positions to hedge a short commodity index exposure opposite option traders, such as definition funds.

All of these traders—whether coming from the noncommercial or commercial categories—are generally replicating a commodity index by establishing long futures positions in the component markets and then rolling those positions forward from future to future using a fixed methodology. Some traders assigned to the Index Traders category are engaged in other futures activity that could not be disaggregated. As a result, option Index Traders category, which is typically made up of traders with long-only futures positions replicating an index, will option some long and short positions where traders have multi-dimensional trading activities, the preponderance of which is index trading.

Likewise the Index Traders category will not include some traders who are engaged in index trading, but for whom it does not represent a substantial part of traders overall trading activity. Chicago Board of Trade; KCBT: Kansas City Board of Trade; MGE: Minneapolis Grain Exchange; CME: Chicago Mercantile Exchange; NYBT: New York Board of Trade.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Transparency International Contact Us. Commitments of Traders Historical Viewable Historical Compressed About the COT Reports Release Schedule Explanatory Notes Disaggregated Explanatory Notes Historical Special Announcements. Reportable Positions Clearing members, futures commission merchants, and foreign brokers collectively called reporting firms file daily reports with the Commission. Commercial and Non-commercial Traders When an individual reportable trader is identified to the Commission, the trader is classified either as "commercial" or "non-commercial.

Nonreportable Positions The long and short open interest shown as "Nonreportable Positions" traders derived by subtracting total long and short "Reportable Positions" from the total open interest. Spreading For the futures-only report, spreading measures the extent to which each non-commercial trader holds equal long and short futures positions.

Changes in Commitments from Previous Reports Changes represent the differences between the data for the current report date and the data published in the previous report. Percent of Open Interest Percents are calculated against the total open interest for the futures-only report and against the total futures-equivalent open interest for the options-and-futures-combined report.

Number of Traders To determine the total number of reportable traders in a market, a trader is counted only definition whether or not the trader appears in more than one category non-commercial traders may be long or short only and may be spreading; commercial traders may be long and short. Old and Other Futures long form only For selected commodities where there is a well-defined marketing season or crop year, the COT data are broken down by "old" and "other" crop years. Concentration Ratios long form only The report shows the percents of open interest held by the largest four and eight reportable traders, without regard to whether they are classified as commercial or non-commercial.

Major Markets for Which the COT Data Is Shown by Crop Year Market First Traders Last Future CBOT Wheat July May CBOT Corn December September CBOT Oats July May CBOT Soybeans September August CBOT Soybean Oil October September CBOT Soybean Meal October September CBOT Rough Rice September July KCBT Wheat July May MGE Wheat September July CME Lean Hogs December October CME Frozen Pork Bellies February August NYBT Cocoa December September NYBT Coffee C December September NYBT Cotton No.

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