Methodology: where every number comes from

Every number on ICC Terminal comes from a public, official source and is computed the same way every time. This page explains the sources, the formulas, when the data updates and what it cannot tell you.

1. Commitments of Traders (CFTC)

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission publishes the Commitments of Traders report every Friday at 3:30 pm New York time, with positions as of the Tuesday before. We use the legacy futures-only report. Our main figure is the net position of non-commercial traders (large speculators such as funds): their long contracts minus their short contracts. We call them "smart money" for short; commercial traders (producers and banks that hedge) are shown separately where the page needs them. Our scheduler downloads the report in the hours after publication, usually by Saturday 01:00 UTC.

2. The COT index

The COT index puts this week's net position into its own range: (net now − lowest net in the window) ÷ (highest − lowest) × 100. 100 % means the most long in the window, 0 % the most short. The weekly table uses 13 weeks, the currency pages 52 weeks and the monthly view 12 month-ends; each page says which window it uses. When the highest and lowest are equal the index is 50 %.

3. CME daily data and the 5-day flow index

CME Group publishes daily volume, open interest and settlement prices for each futures contract: a preliminary bulletin in the night (by about 01:00 UTC) and a final one by about 17:00 UTC. We read both and keep the final numbers. Each session is scored from the change in price and in open interest: price up with open interest up (new buying) +1, price up with open interest down (short covering) +0.5, price down with open interest down (long liquidation) −0.5, price down with open interest up (new shorting) −1. The 5-day flow index is the average score of the last five sessions mapped to 0-100 %. For pairs such as USDJPY, where the CME future is quoted the other way round, the price change is turned around first.

4. Central bank rates and the economic calendar

Policy rates and the next decision dates come from each central bank's own website and are checked the day after each decision; a row that cannot be confirmed is marked as pending. The economic calendar lists only releases from the official schedules of the agencies and central banks that publish them. Times are shown in UTC, Pakistan and India time.

5. Prices, ranges and tools

Prices, daily ranges, correlations and screeners use end-of-day and hourly market data from our data feeds and published reference exchange rates; each page names its window (for example 20 trading days). Calculators run in your browser with the numbers you type and the contract sizes shown on the page.

6. When the data updates

The scheduler runs many times a day (UTC 00-05, 10-15, 17 and 20-23). COT pages change once a week after the CFTC release; CME pages after each session; rates after each decision. Every data page shows the date its numbers belong to.

7. Limits

Positioning data describes what large traders held, not why and not what they will do next. The COT report is three days old when it is published. CME data covers futures only, not the spot market or brokers' CFDs. Sources can revise numbers, and our software can make mistakes; when we find one we correct the page. Nothing here is a buy or sell signal, and everything is for education.

Questions about a number? Write to support@iccterminal.trade with the page address. See also about us and the team.

ICC Terminal team · updated 11 November 2026