A Deeper look Into Silver Futures Commitment of Traders Report
Silver Futures COT
by John Thorpe, Senior Broker
I wanted to add to the conversation by including the differences in the Commodity Futures Trading Commissions Weekly Commitment of Traders (COT Report). The before and after data of that historical spike and selloff in that market illustrate yesterday’s blog. Follow the tables Commitments of Traders | CFTC
In the Commitment of Traders report: what were the major differences between Comex silver positions on January 27th and February 3rd 2026?
Non‑commercials cut longs and shorts, commercials covered a chunk of shorts, spreads ticked up, and total open interest dropped notably between 27 Jan and 3 Feb 2026 for COMEX silver futures.
Key numbers: standard silver (5,000 oz)
All figures are futures‑only, contracts of 5,000 oz.
Data from the CFTC legacy COMEX silver futures‑only reports for positions as of 27 Jan and 3 Feb 2026.
Major positioning shifts
- Open interest contraction: OI fell about 8.6% (156,637 → 143,180), indicating broad position liquidation across categories rather than a one‑sided build.
- Spec liquidation and short‑cover: Non‑commercials reduced longs by ~4.6k and shorts by ~6.8k, with a bigger cut on the short side, so the spec net long actually increased slightly even as gross length came down.
- Commercial short‑covering: Commercials cut longs by ~9.5k and shorts by ~7.9k; their net short remained large but narrowed modestly as they covered more shorts than longs in absolute terms.
- More spread activity: Non‑commercial spreads rose by 2,650 contracts, so a larger share of remaining interest was in calendar/relative value rather than outright directional risk.
Micro silver (1,000 oz)
In micro silver, OI dropped from 36,204 to 32,004, with non‑commercial longs down a bit, shorts slightly lower, and spreads up, while commercial participation was negligible on both dates.
Note on Spreads: You’ll see spreads are the only category to increase OI above:spreads between front month and deferred only serve to reduce margins and price volatility in a carrying charge market. Thereby, not liquidating the position, but locking in a loss if long or gain if short without offsetting the initial position.
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Daily Levels for February 25th 2026
Reports for tomorrow:
Good Trading,
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