CFTC CoTs: Managed Money Gets Bullish on Gold

Please note: the CoTs report was published 06/26/2026 for the period ending 06/23/2026. “Managed Money” and “Hedge Funds” are used interchangeably.

The Commitment of Traders report is a weekly publication that shows the breakdown of ownership in the Futures market. For every contract, there is a long and a short, so the net positioning will always be zero, but the report shows who is positioned long or short. Historically, Hedge Funds (Managed Money) dominate the price action in both Gold and Silver.

Gold

Current Trends

Below shows net positioning for the 5 main groups of futures holders. The very first thing to notice is the massive drop off in January before the sell-off. Positioning has now been almost completely flat since then. The market has never moved like this before (or not moved), being almost unchanged since early January.

Figure: 1 Net Position by Holder

Managed Money exited just before the big sell-off in January. They stayed on the sidelines through the partial recovery into February and kept exposure unchanged up until June. Managed Money has actually been buying into this sell-off rather than driving it.

Figure: 2 Managed Money Net Position

Weekly Activity

Managed Money made the big recent increase the week of June 2nd just as gold was starting to break down. They have added some since then but not large amounts.

Figure: 3

The activity in the options market shows the quietest market in years. Managed Money has almost no exposure.

Figure: 4 Options Positions

Silver

Current Trends

Similar to gold, silver has also seen a flattening of activity. Net positioning is the smallest it has been since 2024 but is also incredibly flat.

Figure: 5 Net Position by Holder

Managed Money has been relatively quiet since March with only a few jumps since then. For example, they drove the spike the week of May 12th. They have started buying again the last two weeks.

Figure: 6 Managed Money Net Position

Weekly Activity

You can see the actual weekly activity below. The latest week saw no action from Managed Money, but the week before there was an increase.

Figure: 7 Net Change in Positioning

The options market has also gotten a bit more quiet than it was, but it has not seen the same drop-off as the gold options market. “NonRep Longs” still own this space.

Figure: 8 Options Positions

Conclusion

The data is painting an interesting picture. The data has completely flattened out for almost the entirety of 2026. This shows just a complete lack of activity. However, in recent weeks, managed money has started to dabble back in. This may be a good sign that the Hedge Funds are starting to see a buying opportunity in the metal.

As the table below shows, managed money usually dominates the price action. This was the case for all years in gold except 2020 and 2025. If Managed Money is looking to get control of the price again… and they are buying, that is likely a sign we could be getting close to a bottom in the metals.

Figure: 9 Correlation Table