03 May

Speculator Extremes: Soybean Oil, Wheat & Ultra 10-Year Bonds lead Bullish Positions

May 3, 2026

By InvestMacro

The latest update for the weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) report was released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday for data ending on Tuesday April 28th.

This weekly Extreme Positions report highlights the Most Bullish and Most Bearish Positions for the speculator category and is a current snapshot of how speculators were positioned as of Tuesday. Extreme positioning in these markets can foreshadow strong moves in the underlying market.

Extreme Bullish Speculator Table

To signify an extreme position, we use the Strength Index (also known as the COT Index) of each instrument, a common method of measuring COT data. The Strength Index is simply a comparison of current trader positions against the range of positions over the previous 3 years. We use over 80 percent as extremely bullish and under 20 percent as extremely bearish (Compare Strength Index scores across all markets in the data table or cot leaders table).

The 6-WK Trend score is the change in the Strength Index over the past 6 weeks and signals how strong and which way the Strength Index is going.

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Here Are This Week’s Most Bullish Speculator Positions:

Soybean Oil

Extreme Bullish Leader
The Soybean Oil speculator position comes in tied at the top of the most bullish extreme standings this week as the Soybean Oil speculator level is currently at a 100 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the percent strength score totaled an advance by 21 percentage points this week. The overall net speculator position was a total of 171,812 net contracts this week and rose to a new all-time high with a gain of 2,731 contract in the weekly speculator bets.

Speculators or Non-Commercials Notes:

Speculators, classified as non-commercial traders by the CFTC, are made up of large commodity funds, hedge funds and other significant for-profit participants. The Specs are generally regarded as trend-followers in their behavior towards price action – net speculator bets and prices tend to go in the same directions. These traders often look to buy when prices are rising and sell when prices are falling. To illustrate this point, many times speculator contracts can be found at their most extremes (bullish or bearish) when prices are also close to their highest or lowest levels.

These extreme levels can be dangerous for the large speculators as the trade is most crowded, there is less trading ammunition still sitting on the sidelines to push the trend further and prices have moved a significant distance. When the trend becomes exhausted, some speculators take profits while others look to also exit positions when prices fail to continue in the same direction. This process usually plays out over many months to years and can ultimately create a reverse effect where prices start to fall and speculators start a process of selling when prices are falling.

 

Ultra 10-Year

Extreme Bullish Leader
The Ultra 10-Year speculator position comes in tied at the top of the extreme standings this week. The Ultra 10-Year speculator level is also now at a 100 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the percent strength score was an advance by 47 percentage points this week while the speculator position registered -27,840 net contracts this week with a boost of 45,355 contracts in speculator bets.

Wheat

Extreme Bullish Leader
The Wheat speculator position comes in tied at the top of the extreme standings as well. The Wheat speculator level resides at a 100 percent score of its 3-year range while the six-week trend for the speculator strength score came in at a lift of 22 percentage points this week.

The overall speculator position was 866 net contracts this week with a strong gain of 26,403 contracts in the weekly speculator bets.

Bitcoin

Extreme Bullish Leader
The Bitcoin speculator position comes up number four in the extreme standings this week. The Bitcoin speculator level is at a 97 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the speculator strength score totaled a gain of 12 percentage points this week and the overall speculator position was 2,392 net contracts this week with a edge higher of 321 contracts in the speculator bets.

Soybean Meal

Extreme Bullish Leader
The Soybean Meal speculator position rounds out the top five in this week’s bullish extreme standings as the Soybean Meal speculator level sits at a 96 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the speculator strength score was a gain of 17 percentage points this week and the speculator position was 143,101 net contracts this week with an increase of 6,646 contracts in the weekly speculator bets.

The Most Bearish Speculator Positions of the Week:

Extreme Bearish Speculator Table

Cocoa Futures

Extreme Bearish Leader
On the downside, the Cocoa Futures speculator position comes in as the most bearish extreme standing this week as the Cocoa speculator level sits at a minimum 0 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the speculator strength score was a fall by -5 percentage points this week. The overall speculator position was -23,643 net contracts this week with a decline of -4,220 contracts in the speculator bets.

2-Year Bond

Extreme Bearish Leader
The 2-Year Bond speculator position comes in next for the most bearish extreme standing on the week as the 2-Year speculator level is at a 3 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the speculator strength score was a decrease by -23 percentage points this week and the speculator position was -1,709,263 net contracts this week with a rise of 34,090 contracts in the weekly speculator bets.

New Zealand Dollar

Extreme Bearish Leader
The New Zealand Dollar speculator position comes in as third most bearish extreme standing of the week. The NZD speculator level resides at a 12 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the speculator strength score was a reduction of -27 percentage points this week while the overall speculator position was -46,322 net contracts this week with a weekly advance of 2,132 contracts in the speculator bets.

Nasdaq

Extreme Bearish Leader
The Nasdaq speculator position comes in as this week’s fourth most bearish extreme standing with the Nasdaq-Mini speculator level sitting at a 13 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the speculator strength score was a fall by -38 percentage points this week while the speculator position was -2,322 net contracts this week with a reduction of -11,761 contracts in the weekly speculator bets.

British Pound

Extreme Bearish Leader
The British Pound speculator position comes in as the fifth most bearish extreme standing for this week as the GBP speculator level resides at a 14 percent score of its 3-year range.

The six-week trend for the speculator strength score was a small gain of 2 percentage points this week and the speculator position totaled -60,639 net contracts this week with a drop by -8,600 contracts in the weekly speculator bets.

Article By InvestMacro – Receive our weekly COT Newsletter

*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the most recent Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) were positioned in the futures markets.

The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators) as well as their open interest (contracts open in the market at time of reporting). See CFTC criteria here.


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