Grain Trade Seeks Daily COT

Industry Wants Daily Commitments of Traders Report, But CFTC Doesn't Have Budget

Jerry Hagstrom
By  Jerry Hagstrom , DTN Political Correspondent
The complete Commodity Futures Trading Commission listens as members of the agricultural advisory committee make presentations at a meeting in Overland Park, Kansas. From left, Commissioner Dawn Stump; Commissioner Rostin Behnam; Chairman Christopher Giancarlo; Charlie Thornton, director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs; Commissioner Brian Quintenz; and Commissioner Dan Berkovitz. (Photo by Jerry Hagstrom for DTN)

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (DTN) -- A representative of the grain export industry urged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday to issue the now-weekly Commitments of Traders report (COT) daily, but CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo said that the agency would need a bigger budget to do that.

"A daily Commitment of Traders report would be desirable," Stephen Strong, the representative of the North American Export Grain Association said at a CFTC agricultural advisory committee meeting at which all five commissioners were present.

Giancarlo said he would like to make the report daily but that "under current funding we cannot do it. It would require a different level of funding."

Strong said that NAEGA and the National Grain and Feed Association "would welcome" any discussion in how those groups could help the CFTC get the funds. The question of proper funding for the CFTC has been continuous since the 2008 financial crisis and the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

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According to the CFTC website, the commission publishes the COT reports to help the public understand market dynamics.

Specifically, the COT reports provide a breakdown of each Tuesday's open interest for futures and options on futures markets in which 20 or more traders hold positions equal to or above the reporting levels established by the CFTC. The COT reports are based on position data supplied by reporting firms (FCMs, clearing members, foreign brokers and exchanges)."

In an interview after the meeting, Giancarlo said that the futures industry, "like every other industry driven by data," would be more timely, and accurate data could help decision makers.

The CFTC collects data "that is unique," Giancarlo said. But making the report daily, he said, would be more complicated than just increasing the frequency. "It requires a complete work stream" so that it would be delivered in a more sophisticated way, he said.

Giancarlo, whose term expires this month, noted that the issue will fall under the next chairman, but said he wanted Strong to know that the commission under him has not been "oblivious" to the issue and has considered it.

An attendee at the meeting said that the industry's interest in a daily COT report is driven by the shift from in-person trading on the exchange floor to electronic trading. What the industry wants is called "market color" -- a sense of what commercial participants are doing that they could get from personal contact in the pit but not from computer screens, the attendee added.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission -- Commitments of Traders: https://www.cftc.gov/…

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@njdc.com

Follow him on Twitter @hagstromreport

(CC/BAS/AG)

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Jerry Hagstrom