VIX futures COT positions and historical chart

Official market: VIX FUTURES · CFE · TFF Futures Only

Latest report: 8 September 2026 · processed 11 Sept 2026, 19:31 · Current weekly data

Current positioning summary

Leveraged Funds held a net-short VIX futures position of 23,270 contracts. The position increased by 2,988 contracts from the preceding available report. The position ranked in the 56th percentile of the latest 156 available reports.

Report date: 8 September 2026

Asset Manager/Institutional

Long: 52,955
Short: 90,368
Net: -37,413
Weekly change: -6,388
Net / open interest: -8.66%
52 reports: 17th percentile
156 reports: 8th percentile

Leveraged Funds

Long: 91,185
Short: 114,455
Net: -23,270
Weekly change: +2,988
Net / open interest: -5.39%
52 reports: 75th percentile
156 reports: 56th percentile

Historical net position

Actual report dates; missing weeks are not interpolated. A data table follows the chart.

Participant category

Accessible historical data

Recent normalized observations are server rendered; the chart uses client-side state and the market page keeps one canonical URL.

CFTC positioning observations
Report date	Participant	Long	Short	Net	Weekly change	4-report change	52-report context
2026-09-08	Dealer/Intermediary	97,201	44,307	+52,894	+4,032	+12,726	56th percentile
2026-09-08	Asset Manager/Institutional	52,955	90,368	-37,413	-6,388	-10,309	17th percentile
2026-09-08	Leveraged Funds	91,185	114,455	-23,270	+2,988	-11,143	75th percentile
2026-09-08	Other Reportables	5,430	2,270	+3,160	-419	+1,734	98th percentile
2026-09-08	Non-Reportable	28,857	24,228	+4,629	-213	+6,992	94th percentile
2026-09-01	Dealer/Intermediary	89,558	40,696	+48,862	-2,928	+15,766	42th percentile
2026-09-01	Asset Manager/Institutional	53,917	84,942	-31,025	-8,137	+2,675	25th percentile
2026-09-01	Leveraged Funds	86,075	112,333	-26,258	+3,885	-30,031	67th percentile
2026-09-01	Other Reportables	5,244	1,665	+3,579	+1,922	+2,267	100th percentile
2026-09-01	Non-Reportable	35,597	30,755	+4,842	+5,258	+9,323	96th percentile
2026-08-25	Dealer/Intermediary	84,654	32,864	+51,790	+7,112	+5,408	52th percentile
2026-08-25	Asset Manager/Institutional	49,710	72,598	-22,888	+4,274	+8,426	42th percentile
2026-08-25	Leveraged Funds	78,872	109,015	-30,143	-11,050	-17,854	60th percentile
2026-08-25	Other Reportables	3,311	1,654	+1,657	+204	+460	92th percentile
2026-08-25	Non-Reportable	24,826	25,242	-416	-540	+3,560	54th percentile
2026-08-18	Dealer/Intermediary	87,632	42,954	+44,678	+4,510	+8,038	31th percentile
2026-08-18	Asset Manager/Institutional	53,725	80,887	-27,162	-58	+14,377	31th percentile
2026-08-18	Leveraged Funds	95,147	114,240	-19,093	-6,966	-22,191	81th percentile
2026-08-18	Other Reportables	3,037	1,584	+1,453	+27	+1,115	90th percentile
2026-08-18	Non-Reportable	23,167	23,043	+124	+2,487	-1,339	63th percentile
2026-08-11	Dealer/Intermediary	79,670	39,502	+40,168	+7,072	+5,833	23th percentile
2026-08-11	Asset Manager/Institutional	49,073	76,177	-27,104	+6,596	+16,225	31th percentile
2026-08-11	Leveraged Funds	83,434	95,561	-12,127	-15,900	-22,316	90th percentile
2026-08-11	Other Reportables	2,762	1,336	+1,426	+114	+1,297	90th percentile
2026-08-11	Non-Reportable	23,577	25,940	-2,363	+2,118	-1,039	25th percentile
2026-08-04	Dealer/Intermediary	72,193	39,097	+33,096	-13,286	-3,683	6th percentile
2026-08-04	Asset Manager/Institutional	44,514	78,214	-33,700	-2,386	+5,138	19th percentile
2026-08-04	Leveraged Funds	94,849	91,076	+3,773	+16,062	-1,339	96th percentile
2026-08-04	Other Reportables	2,762	1,450	+1,312	+115	+964	88th percentile
2026-08-04	Non-Reportable	24,448	28,929	-4,481	-505	-1,080	6th percentile
2026-07-28	Dealer/Intermediary	75,824	29,442	+46,382	+9,742	+9,233	33th percentile
2026-07-28	Asset Manager/Institutional	48,684	79,998	-31,314	+10,225	+1,344	21th percentile
2026-07-28	Leveraged Funds	79,888	92,177	-12,289	-15,387	-10,272	92th percentile
2026-07-28	Other Reportables	2,396	1,199	+1,197	+859	+1,451	88th percentile
2026-07-28	Non-Reportable	20,784	24,760	-3,976	-5,439	-1,756	10th percentile
2026-07-21	Dealer/Intermediary	80,571	43,931	+36,640	+2,305	-9,047	13th percentile
2026-07-21	Asset Manager/Institutional	45,770	87,309	-41,539	+1,790	-16,920	10th percentile
2026-07-21	Leveraged Funds	96,868	93,770	+3,098	-7,091	+21,961	96th percentile
2026-07-21	Other Reportables	2,200	1,862	+338	+209	+474	75th percentile
2026-07-21	Non-Reportable	25,653	24,190	+1,463	+2,787	+3,532	75th percentile

How to interpret VIX positioning

What the contract represents

VIX futures reference expected S&P 500 volatility over future settlement horizons rather than the spot VIX index itself.

Categories traders monitor

Dealer and Leveraged Fund positions can reflect hedging, volatility carry and spread structures with different motives.

Interpretation considerations

A net short VIX futures position is not automatically an unhedged bet on calm markets; term-structure trades are common.

Important limitations

COT cannot connect futures to options or adjacent maturities, so VIX positioning requires particular care.

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COT research guides

What Is the Commitments of Traders Report?A practical overview of CFTC COT coverage, publication lag, participant categories, net positioning and limitations.How to Read a COT ReportRead long and short positions, weekly changes, flips and rolling percentiles without overstating what delayed positioning data can show.COT Report Release ScheduleUnderstand the Tuesday position date, later publication, exceptional delays and Squawkdeck processing timestamps.COT Participant Categories ExplainedCompare Dealer/Intermediary, Asset Manager/Institutional, Leveraged Funds, Other Reportables and Non-Reportable traders.Futures Only vs Options Combined COT ReportsLearn why COT report scopes should not be mixed and which TFF scope Squawkdeck uses.CFTC Data MethodologyOfficial sources, contract mapping, formulas, rolling statistics, corrections, missing data and limitations for Squawkdeck CFTC research.