S&P 500 COT positioning
Leveraged funds are net short 372,318 contracts in S&P 500 futures as of Nov 3, 2026, with positioning at 51 of 100 within its 52-week range. From the weekly CFTC Commitments of Traders report.
Positions as of Tue, Nov 3, 2026 · published Fri, Nov 6, 2026 · Source: CFTC
Leveraged funds trimmed their short position over the past week. That leaves positioning at 51 on a 0–100 scale between its 52-week low and high — with room to move before it reaches an extreme.
WAVG reads this the same way every week across every market, names the factors behind the bias, and flags when positioning reaches the edge of its 52-week range.
What moves S&P 500 positioning
The E-mini S&P 500 uses the financial report: asset managers (institutional "real money", structurally long as a benchmark), leveraged funds (hedge funds running tactical and relative-value trades), and dealers (banks). A key nuance: leveraged funds are often net short the futures as the hedge leg of a cash-futures basis trade — so a large short is not always outright bearish.
Positioning shifts with the Fed, the earnings outlook, and broad risk sentiment. Because asset managers anchor the long side, the more informative signal is usually the week-over-week change and how stretched leveraged funds are relative to their own range.
This week's report
| Trader group | Long | Short | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leveraged funds | 125,269 | 497,587 | −372,318 |
| Asset managers | 1,111,721 | 183,137 | +928,584 |
| Dealers | 182,419 | 870,993 | −688,574 |
Contracts held long, short and net as of Nov 3, 2026 (published Nov 6, 2026). Source: CFTC.
The last 13 weeks
| Week ending | Leveraged funds net | Change | Index (52w) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | −280,446 | +49,553 | 83 |
| Aug 18, 2026 | −281,402 | −956 | 83 |
| Aug 25, 2026 | −315,204 | −33,802 | 71 |
| Sep 1, 2026 | −317,564 | −2,360 | 70 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | −341,104 | −23,540 | 62 |
| Sep 15, 2026 | −293,143 | +47,961 | 79 |
| Sep 22, 2026 | −375,574 | −82,431 | 50 |
| Sep 29, 2026 | −372,489 | +3,085 | 51 |
| Oct 6, 2026 | −415,087 | −42,598 | 36 |
| Oct 13, 2026 | −408,726 | +6,361 | 38 |
| Oct 20, 2026 | −371,245 | +37,481 | 51 |
| Oct 27, 2026 | −400,604 | −29,359 | 41 |
| Nov 3, 2026 | −372,318 | +28,286 | 51 |
Net position of leveraged funds at each weekly reporting date, the change from the week before, and the COT index for that week. The index compares a week against this market’s own 52-week range: 0 is the low end of that range, 100 the high end — a high reading is not the same as a long position. Source: CFTC.
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