Copper: 65/100, leaning long. Small traders hold 17,160 long and 8,671 short contracts: 66.4% long. Week before: 82. A year before: 89. Three-year range: 2 to 100.

Crowded shortLeaning shortBalancedLeaning longCrowded long

050100

On 9 October 2026 small traders in COMEX copper futures were 66.4% long, a Crowd Gauge reading of 65 out of 100 (leaning long), according to TradingLookup's Crowd Gauge (October 2026).

• Data as of 9 October 2026
• All markets
• Method

The CFTC report released that day, positions as of the Tuesday before.

The contract behind the reading

Contract

COMEX copper futures

CFTC contract code

085692 1,852 weekly reports since 31 July 1989

A long position is

a bet that the copper price rises.

In the composite

No: its own reading only

Positioning, not price. "Small traders" are everyone below the CFTC's reporting size ("non-reportable"): the closest public measure of retail positioning in COMEX copper futures. It also holds some small firms, so treat it as a proxy.

What today's reading means

Copper reads 65: small traders' long share is above about 65% of the last 156 weekly readings in this contract. The last crowded-long week (80+) was 2 October 2026. The last crowded-short week (20 or less) was 1 August 2025.

Record readings for Copper

Highest Crowd Gauge reading

99.7 25 weeks, first on 22 May 2009, most recently 23 January 2026

Lowest Crowd Gauge reading

0.3 18 weeks, first on 16 June 2006, most recently 27 March 2020

Most long small traders have been

75.0% long positions as of 20 January 2026

Least long

30.7% long positions as of 29 May 2012

Readings from 6 January 2006 (1,084 weeks). Long share from 3 January 2006, in the CFTC contract above.

How often Copper hits an extreme

A new spell starts after 4 or more weeks outside the band, the same rule as the backtest's "episodes". Weeks are counted from the first published reading above.

History

Last 12 weekly readings

Change: points on the 0 to 100 scale against the week before. Positions are as of the Tuesday before each release.

Did extreme Copper readings come before price moves?

Not tested: no free daily price series we can use. The pooled result across the markets we could test is on the method page.

Sources for Copper

• CFTC COT (small traders)In the reading (contract code 085692). 1852 weekly reports since 31 July 1989.

• Gold 81/100
• Silver 88/100

Download every number: history CSV, COT observations CSV (CC BY 4.0). Spotted a mistake? Tell us.