Source: https://forexiapro.com/cot-report/cot-report-cad/

# COT Report CAD: The Canadian Dollar Turned Round, and a Crowd Long at Index 83

Dylan Forexia11 November 20268 min read

The COT report CAD traders read for the week published on 21 August 2026 showed the large speculators short 181,151 Canadian dollar futures and long 22,985. That looks like a crowd against the Canadian dollar, and it is: in the pair's terms they were net long USD/CAD by 158,166 contracts, index 83, crowded long. We read that as the side not to join. Price had been falling for four weeks, and the week's low, 1.37318, then held for twelve trading days.

[![COT report CAD: a diagram of a falling market, the crowd's stops under the lows, last week's low as a level, and price that stops above it and turns up](/seo/cot-report-cad/cot-report-cad-the-low-that-held-diagram.webp)](/seo/cot-report-cad/cot-report-cad-the-low-that-held-diagram.webp)

Diagram: a crowded side can wait for a hunt that never comes. The real days are below.

This is one dated report, and not the newest. The latest on our page, counted 27 October, sat at index 45, which reads as nothing, so we use the last week when the crowd was at an end. The guide to [the Commitment of Traders report](/cot-report/) explains the groups and the formula, and [what the COT report is in forex](/cot-report/what-is-cot-report-in-forex/) is the short version.

## How do you read the COT report CAD?

You turn it round first. The contract is Canadian Dollar at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, code 090741, quoted in dollars per Canadian dollar, so it runs the opposite way to USD/CAD. Short Canadian dollar futures is long the pair, as it is with [the yen's report](/cot-report/cot-report-jpy/). Every net position, share and index below is already in the pair's terms. The report was counted on Tuesday 18 August and published on Friday 21 August.

Here is that Tuesday, from the [CFTC's public figures](https://publicreporting.cftc.gov/Commitments-of-Traders/Legacy-Futures-Only/6dca-aqww), with open interest of 359,585 contracts. The first two rows are from the legacy report and the rest from Traders in Financial Futures.

| Group, in the pair's terms | Net position | Share | Index |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Large speculators (non-commercial) | +158,166 | +44.0% | 83 |
| Commercials | −161,379 | −44.9% | 20 |
| Dealers | −172,665 | −48.0% | 24 |
| Leveraged funds | +88,897 | +24.7% | 82 |
| Asset managers | +89,495 | +24.9% | 73 |

The first row is the crowd. In the futures it held 22,985 long and 181,151 short, and the table gives the same position the pair's way. Its share ran from 12.5% short to 55.8% long over the 156 weeks, so 44.0% sat near the top of that range, though not at it. The index is 83, not 100.

Four reports earlier, on 21 July, the crowd was at 88, with 27,007 futures long and 201,455 short. In four weeks it bought back 20,304 short contracts and let 4,022 long contracts go, so the net long fell from 174,448 to 158,166. It was selling the position down while price fell: USD/CAD closed at 1.41065 on 21 July and at 1.38959 on 18 August, 211 pips lower, 1.5%.

The groups split by what they do. Leveraged funds and asset managers were on the same side as the crowd, the funds near the top of their own range. Commercials and dealers were on the other. Legacy sorts a trader by whether it hedges, and the other report sorts by the kind of business, so those four rows are not one view. Do not read the dealers' −172,665 as a bet: they make the market, and their position is mostly the other side of what others want.

At index 83 on 18 August we read the crowd as the side not to join, which is [Fade the Crowd](/glossary/fade-the-crowd/). That ruled out buying USD/CAD with it. It did not make a sell.

## Which level mattered on USD/CAD?

Last week's low, 1.3864, because under the lows we read the stops of a crowd that is long. It was the low of Friday 14 August, from the 10:00 New York candle. The report holds no stop orders, so all of this is a reading of the structure.

Tuesday's close, the day the report counts, was 1.38959. [The week's high and low](/glossary/the-weeks-high-and-low/) of 10 to 14 August were 1.39634 and 1.3864. What a member does with that level stays in the course. Here is only what price did with it.

## What did USD/CAD do after the count?

It lost that low before the report came out, and it did not come back. On Tuesday itself the 05:30 candle traded to 1.38611, under 1.3864 by 2.9 pips, and the day closed back above it, at 1.38959. On Wednesday 19 August the pair went under again and kept going: it fell to 1.38028 at 10:30 New York and closed at 1.3808.

[![COT report CAD on 19 August 2026: USD/CAD falls through last week's low at 1.3864 to 1.38028 at 10:30 New York and ends the day at 1.3808](/seo/cot-report-cad/usdcad-cot-report-through-the-low-19-august-2026.webp)](/seo/cot-report-cad/usdcad-cot-report-through-the-low-19-august-2026.webp)

USD/CAD, 15-minute candles, Wednesday 19 August 2026. The pair went under the low of 14 August, 1.3864, and did not close back above it. The low of the day was 1.38028.

This is the stop hunt, which most traders call a liquidity sweep, with no [Close Back](/glossary/the-close-back/) behind it. It was the same shape as [the Australian dollar's report](/cot-report/cot-report-aud/), only the other way up. By Friday 21 August USD/CAD had reached 1.37318 at 08:00 and closed at 1.37526, 143 pips under Tuesday's close. The report came out that afternoon, after the fall.

After the report the low held. In the twelve trading days from Monday 24 August to Tuesday 8 September, the lowest price was 1.37592, on 8 September at 10:30, 27 pips above 1.37318. The highest was 1.39393, on 2 September. The pair closed at 1.38994 on Friday 28 August and 1.38333 on Friday 4 September.

[![COT report CAD on 8 September 2026: USD/CAD falls to 1.37592 at 10:30 New York, 27 pips above the low of 21 August, and turns up](/seo/cot-report-cad/usdcad-cot-report-low-held-8-september-2026.webp)](/seo/cot-report-cad/usdcad-cot-report-low-held-8-september-2026.webp)

USD/CAD, 15-minute candles, Tuesday 8 September 2026. The low of the day, 1.37592, stayed 27 pips above the low of 21 August, 1.37318. The pair did not trade under that low in the candles we hold, to 30 October.

Read that with care. The reading was that the crowd's side was the one to avoid, and for twelve days the pair neither fell further nor gave a clean sell. By 2 October the pair closed at 1.42482, but that is a long way past what one report says, and this page does not claim the report saw it. Run as a mechanical rule, trading against a hunt did not make money in our own test, and many hunts never come. In our test of the report, joining a crowded side lost, and fading it is promising and not proven. The reports after 18 August are not part of this page's figures.

## How has the Canadian dollar's crowd moved through 2026?

It stayed at the long end for nine reports, then let the position go. Our index reads the crowd against its own 156 weeks, and each row here is a Tuesday count.

| Report counted | Net position | Share | Index | USD/CAD at Tuesday's close |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 23 June | +146,792 | +42.8% | 81 | 1.42093 |
| 21 July | +174,448 | +47.7% | 88 | 1.41065 |
| 4 August | +179,095 | +49.1% | 90 | 1.40618 |
| 11 August | +173,362 | +47.6% | 88 | 1.39222 |
| 18 August | +158,166 | +44.0% | 83 | 1.38959 |
| 25 August | +121,522 | +36.9% | 72 | 1.38361 |
| 15 September | +37,577 | +10.5% | 34 | 1.39144 |
| 29 September | +78,671 | +22.7% | 52 | 1.41888 |

Those from before 2 October were built afterwards, by the same rules. The crowd was at 80 or over from 23 June to 18 August, nine reports, while the pair fell from 1.42093 to 1.38959. In the 156 reports to 29 September 2026 this crowd was crowded long 82 times and crowded short 9 times, and net long in 149 of the 156. It is the market where the crowd is nearly always on one side, so net long alone is the normal state. The row of 11 August, worked column by column, is in [how to read the COT report](/cot-report/how-to-read-the-cot-report/).

[![COT report CAD: USD/CAD net position as a share of open interest and its index over the 156 weeks to 18 August 2026, with the crowd at 80 or over for much of the time](/seo/cot-report-cad/usdcad-cot-index-three-years-to-18-august-2026.webp)](/seo/cot-report-cad/usdcad-cot-index-three-years-to-18-august-2026.webp)

The large speculators' net position in USD/CAD terms, weekly, 156 reports to 18 August 2026, and the index set against its own three-year range. Pink is 20 and under, 80 and over. Source: CFTC, legacy futures only, code 090741.

## What did each seat read in the Canadian dollar's report?

The same table reads three ways, from [the three seats](/glossary/the-three-seats/).

- **Retail** sees funds short the Canadian dollar and may buy it, or sees a pair at the top of its crowd and buys USD/CAD with them. Both read the same row backwards if they forget the turn.
- **The market maker**, as we read it, sees a crowd with stops under the lows, and commercials and dealers on the other side.
- **The observer** sees which side is ruled out, and notes that price had fallen against the crowd for four weeks. It does not see when, and it cannot tell a hunt that comes from one that does not.

## What do traders get wrong about the Canadian dollar's COT report?

Three errors recur on this market.

1. **Reading the futures as the pair.** The funds were short 158,166 Canadian dollar contracts and long USD/CAD by the same number.
2. **Thinking index 83 means a fall.** The pair lost its low on 19 August, and then the low of 21 August held for twelve days.
3. **Treating a long crowd as unusual.** It was net long in 149 of 156 weeks, and the index asks where it is against its own range.

The pound's crowd reads very differently: see [the pound's report](/cot-report/cot-report-gbp/).

Course 1 of ForexiaPRO, [Reading the Map](/pro), teaches this read step by step in lesson 1.3.4, Reading This Week's Report.

## Frequently asked questions

### What contract is the Canadian dollar's COT report?

Canadian Dollar on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CFTC code 090741. It is quoted as dollars per Canadian dollar, the opposite way round to USD/CAD, so every position has to be turned round before it is read as the pair. It appears in both the legacy and Traders in Financial Futures reports.

### Why do funds look short the Canadian dollar when USD/CAD is crowded long?

Because short Canadian dollar futures is long USD/CAD. On 18 August 2026 the large speculators held 22,985 Canadian dollar contracts long and 181,151 short, a net short of 158,166 in the futures. In the pair's terms that is net long 158,166, 44.0% of open interest, at an index of 83.

### What does an index of 83 on USD/CAD mean?

That the large speculators' net position, as a share of open interest and in the pair's terms, is near the most long it has been in the last 156 weeks. On 18 August 2026 the range ran from 12.5% short to 55.8% long. We call 80 or over crowded long. It describes where they stand, not when price turns.

### How often is the Canadian dollar's crowd crowded?

In the 156 reports to 29 September 2026, with the futures turned round, the crowd was crowded long in 82 weeks and crowded short in 9, and the longest run on one side was 22 weeks, long, from 26 March 2024. They were net long USD/CAD in 149 of the 156. This crowd is long almost all the time, so a crowded reading here is common.

## More from the blog

### [COT Report CHF: The Franc Futures Turned Round, and a Crowd at Index 12](/cot-report/cot-report-chf/)

The COT report CHF counted 3 November 2026: Swiss franc futures turned round to USD/CHF, the crowd at index 12, who sat opposite, and what price did next.

### [COT Report NZD: The Crowd at Index 13, and a Low That Held](/cot-report/cot-report-nzd/)

The COT report NZD counted 3 November 2026: the New Zealand dollar's crowd at index 13, who sat beside it, the low it kept, and what NZD/USD did next.

### [Copy Trading vs Forex Signals: Who Places the Trade, and What Each Costs You](/learn-forex/copy-trading-vs-forex-signals/)

Copy trading vs forex signals: copying places the trades in your account, a signal leaves them to you. The differences, and one real dated EURUSD signal.