CreekRats Gold · Market Positioning
Commitment of Traders Report
A weekly look at who holds gold and silver futures — the long and short positions of each type of trader, and how stretched those positions are against their own history. Drawn from the CFTC Disaggregated Commitment of Traders report.
What stood out this week
This week at a glance
Why gross, not net
A net figure hides the real exposure. 100,000 long against 150,000 short nets to 50,000 — but so does 10,000 vs 60,000. The 150,000 short contracts are what matter: in a rising market it is the shorts, not the longs, who are exposed to being squeezed. This report therefore leads with the gross long and short walls, and how unusual each is versus its own three-year range.
The short and long walls over time — Managed Money
Funds’ gross longs and gross shorts against price. A rising short wall into higher prices flags traders who may be forced to cover.
How stretched is positioning? (gross percentile, 3-year range)
Where this week’s gross position sits within its own past-three-year range. 100 = the most contracts this group has held in three years (an extreme); 0 = the fewest. High shorts into a rally is the classic “vulnerable” set-up.
Long and short by trader group (this week)
The full picture of who is long and who is short right now.
This week’s change — longs vs shorts
Did each group add or cut longs and shorts in the latest week? Reductions in shorts during a rally often signal covering.
Commercial hedgers’ short wall vs price
Producers, refiners and bullion banks (Producer/Merchant + Swap Dealers) are usually short as they hedge physical metal. The size of that short wall against price shows hedging pressure.
Participation: open interest vs price
Open interest is the total live contracts — a gauge of how much capital and conviction is in the market.
Weekly positioning summary
| Trader group | Long | Short | Long Δwk | Short Δwk | Short %ile (3y) | Net (ref) |
|---|
Who’s who & key terms
Producer / Merchant (commercials): miners, refiners and bullion banks hedging physical metal. Usually heavily short.
Swap Dealers: banks and intermediaries providing liquidity and hedging swaps. Grouped with Producer/Merchant as “commercials” here.
Managed Money (funds): hedge funds and CTAs. Trend-following and leveraged; their long or short walls can become crowded.
Other Reportables: large traders outside the above groups.
Gross long / short: the total long (or short) contracts a group holds — not netted off. Net: long minus short (shown only for reference).
Percentile (3-year): where a position sits within its own past-three-year range. 100 = a three-year extreme; 50 = mid-range.
Source: U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Disaggregated Commitment of Traders (Futures-only); futures settlement prices. Positions reflect each Tuesday, published the following Friday. Educational and market-analysis purposes only — not investment advice.
© CreekRats Limited.