Gold: are retail traders long or short?
Gold: 81/100, crowded long. Small traders hold 50,464 long and 16,272 short contracts: 75.6% long. Week before: 77. A year before: 91. Three-year range: 0 to 100.
On 9 October 2026 small traders in COMEX gold futures were 75.6% long, a Crowd Gauge reading of 81 out of 100 (crowded long), according to TradingLookup's Crowd Gauge (October 2026).
- Data as of
- All markets
- Method
The contract behind the reading
- Contract
- COMEX gold futures
- CFTC contract code
- 088691
- Contract size
The contract unit shall be one hundred (100) troy ounces
- A long position is
- a bet that the gold price rises.
- In the composite
- Yes, in the futures half
Positioning, not price. "Small traders" are everyone below the CFTC's reporting size ("non-reportable"): the closest public measure of retail positioning in COMEX gold futures. It also holds some small firms, so treat it as a proxy.
What today's reading means
Gold reads 81: small traders' long share is above about 81% of the last 156 weekly readings in this contract. The last crowded-short week (20 or less) was 12 September 2025.
Record readings for Gold
- Highest Crowd Gauge reading
- 99.7
- Lowest Crowd Gauge reading
- 0.3
- Most long small traders have been
- 82.9% long
- Least long
- 40.6% long
How often Gold hits an extreme
| Band | Weeks | Share of weeks | Separate spells | Longest spell | Most recent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crowded long (80+) | 314 | 29% | 37 | 41 weeks, to 25 November 2016 | 9 October 2026 |
| Crowded short (20 or less) | 234 | 22% | 29 | 53 weeks, to 14 February 2014 | 12 September 2025 |
History
Last 12 weekly readings
| Released | Reading | Band | Change | Long | Short | Long share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81.1 | Crowded long | +4 | 50,464 | 16,272 | 75.6% | |
| 76.6 | Leaning long | −12 | 48,784 | 16,449 | 74.8% | |
| 88.1 | Crowded long | +12 | 52,437 | 15,387 | 77.3% | |
| 76.6 | Leaning long | −16 | 47,460 | 16,077 | 74.7% | |
| 92.6 | Crowded long | +4 | 52,554 | 14,240 | 78.7% | |
| 88.1 | Crowded long | +10 | 52,030 | 15,436 | 77.1% | |
| 78.5 | Leaning long | −10 | 54,725 | 18,474 | 74.8% | |
| 88.8 | Crowded long | +4 | 51,347 | 15,118 | 77.3% | |
| 84.3 | Crowded long | +6 | 51,051 | 16,351 | 75.7% | |
| 77.9 | Leaning long | +50 | 44,531 | 15,674 | 74.0% | |
| 27.9 | Leaning short | −47 | 61,384 | 31,145 | 66.3% | |
| 75.3 | Leaning long | +1 | 46,143 | 16,854 | 73.3% |
Did extreme Gold 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 Gold
- CFTC COT (small traders)In the reading (contract code 088691). 1937 weekly reports since 15 January 1986.