Disaggregated Commitments of Traders

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I am trying to understand the COT table at the CFTC website

http://www.cftc.gov/dea/futures/petroleum_sf.htm

What does the long/short position mean? Why the numbers for long positions and short positions are different? Should there be a long position for every short position?

Also, the website sub-group the longs and shorts by "Producer/Merchant", "Swap Dealers", "managed money", etc, what does each category mean and why the sub-category?

I copy and paste the table below, but it may be difficult to read, please click on the link above to read the table in its original format.

Thanks!




Disaggregated Commitments of Traders-All Futures Combined Positions as of March 24, 2015
: Reportable Positions :
:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- :
: Producer/Merchant : : : :
: Processor/User : Swap Dealers : Managed Money : Other Reportables :
: Long : Short : Long : Short :Spreading: Long : Short :Spreading: Long : Short :Spreading :
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CRUDE OIL, LIGHT SWEET - NEW YORK MERCANTILE EXCHANGE (CONTRACTS OF 1,000 BARRELS) :
CFTC Code #067651 Open Interest is 1,748,067 :
: Positions :
: 200,057 317,497 236,742 321,007 158,264 315,174 173,210 304,287 198,412 133,489 259,275 :
: :
: Changes from: March 17, 2015 :
: -5,611 -20,862 17,329 -16,849 -9,432 610 3,142 4,891 -3,980 30,089 -3,509 :
: :
: Percent of Open Interest Represented by Each Category of Trader :
: 11.4 18.2 13.5 18.4 9.1 18.0 9.9 17.4 11.4 7.6 14.8 :
: :
: Number of Traders in Each Category Total Traders: 384 :
: 60 67 18 19 29 56 68 77 68 63 75 :
 
Yes, long/short positions in the market must match, but they don't in that table because that table represents only reportable positions. Speculators that don't have large positions make up the balance. I don't think hedgers with small positions have to report either.


The purpose is to show what group is in control of what percentage of outstanding contracts.

From- http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/DisaggregatedExplanatoryNotes/index.htm

Producer/Merchant/Processor/User
A “producer/merchant/processor/user” is an entity that predominantly engages in the production, processing, packing or handling of a physical commodity and uses the futures markets to manage or hedge risks associated with those activities.

Swap Dealer
A “swap dealer” is an entity that deals primarily in swaps for a commodity and uses the futures markets to manage or hedge the risk associated with those swaps transactions. The swap dealer’s counterparties may be speculative traders, like hedge funds, or traditional commercial clients that are managing risk arising from their dealings in the physical commodity.

Money Manager
A “money manager,” for the purpose of this report, is a registered commodity trading advisor (CTA); a registered commodity pool operator (CPO); or an unregistered fund identified by CFTC.7 These traders are engaged in managing and conducting organized futures trading on behalf of clients.
 
Thanks!

Two more questions,

1st, per website link that you referred to,

“Spreading” is a computed amount equal to offsetting long and short positions held by a trader. The computed amount of spreading is calculated as the amount of offsetting futures in different calendar months or offsetting futures and options in the same or different calendar months. Any residual long or short position is reported in the long or short column.

The "spreading" is a significant number in the COT table, for example, for Swap Dealers, long 236742, short 321007, spreading 158264. So the same trader holds a significant amount of short and long positions in different month which cancels out each other? Note that this table is for futures position only, not including the options! Am I missing or misinterpreting anything here?

2nd, what is the difference between:
CRUDE OIL, LIGHT SWEET - NEW YORK MERCANTILE EXCHANGE (CONTRACTS OF 1,000 BARRELS) :CFTC Code #067651
and
WTI CRUDE OIL CALENDAR SWAP - NEW YORK MERCANTILE EXCHANGE (CONTRACTS OF 1,000 BARRELS) : CFTC Code #06765A?

The COT table list them separately. I guess the #067651 is the /CL futures that we trade, but what is #06765A?







rmorse said:
Yes, long/short positions in the market must match, but they don't in that table because that table represents only reportable positions. Speculators that don't have large positions make up the balance. I don't think hedgers with small positions have to report either.
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