FX.co ★ elisa72 | Methodology for Analyzing Market Situations with CME Reports

Gold. COT reports for the futures market are still not being published in the press. Let's briefly discuss who they are important to and why. COT reports are crucial primarily for short-term operations on the exchange and near-to-medium-term speculations by gold traders in this case. The reason is that speculators of this kind mainly leverage the maximum leverage provided by the exchange. Each gold futures contract contains 100 troy ounces of gold. For instance, at the current price of gold at $4200 per ounce and using maximum leverage, a speculator only needs to have $20,000 in their account to support one contract. However, each sold futures contract affects the price of gold twenty times more than the invested ounce of gold directly. This is why the information published in COT reports - "Commitments of Traders" - is important. On the other hand, for small speculators and near-to-medium-term traders, playing with maximum leverage is a very risky endeavor. For example, if they are long at a level of $4200, and their margin call is around $3900 per troy ounce, they should either add money, close positions, or switch to short and add fuel to the gold price drop. This is when the gold futures market regulators, Swap Dealers, and their accountable structures in other gold futures market groups come into play, adjusting the dangerous contract ratio if the current price movement in the gold futures market does not suit them. Of course, there is also the options market for hedging positions, but the foundation lies in the actions of the market regulators. And if there were significant price manipulations with the gold price, they were not without their direct involvement. There are even two "sacred" trading days for this purpose when to credit an open long or short position to the balance, the contracts must remain on the market for two trading days. During these two days, one can open and close positions as much as they want without harming their balance. Of course, for day trading, volumes and levels here and now are more important, but for the near-to-medium term and beyond, COT reports serve as a roadmap. Meanwhile, the past trading Friday proceeded in a rather average mode in the futures market.

The daily trading volume is not impressive even before the FOMC meeting on 10.12.2025.