COT Report CHF: The Franc Futures Turned Round, and a Crowd at Index 12

The COT report CHF traders read for the week published on 6 November 2026 showed the large speculators short 46,071 Swiss franc futures and long 29,482. That looks like a crowd against the franc, and it is: in the pair's terms they were net long USD/CHF by 16,589 contracts. It is also near the least long they had been in three years, index 12. We read that as the side not to join. Last week's low was 0.81269, and in the two trading days after the release USD/CHF stayed 47 pips above it.

This is one dated report, and the newest. The guide to the Commitment of Traders report explains the groups and the formula, and what the COT report is in forex is the short version.

How do you read the COT report CHF?

You turn it round first. The contract is Swiss Franc at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, code 092741, quoted in dollars per franc, so it runs the opposite way to USD/CHF. Short franc futures is long the pair. Every net position, share and index below is already in the pair's terms. The report was counted on Tuesday 3 November and published on Friday 6 November.

Here is that Tuesday, from the CFTC's public figures, with open interest of 133,162 contracts. The first two rows are from the legacy report and the rest from Traders in Financial Futures.

The first row is the crowd. In the futures it held 29,482 long and 46,071 short, a net short of 16,589, and turning it round gives the +16,589 in the table. Its share ran from 7.3% to 50.5% over the 156 weeks, the low in the week of 26 December 2023 and the high in the week of 16 July 2024. So 12.5% was close to the floor, not on it. The index is 12, not 0.

Two things stand out. The first is that the crowd was still net long USD/CHF. The index asks where the position sits against its own range, not whether it is above zero, so a crowd can be long and still be at the short end of what it has held. Over four weeks it cut its futures shorts from 51,558 to 46,071 and added 1,664 futures longs, and USD/CHF fell 1.3% in the same time, from 0.83152 to 0.82068. The second is that the groups did not agree. Leveraged funds were net long near the middle of their own range, and asset managers were net long at an index of 27, closer to the crowd.

Do not read the dealers' −51,518 as a bet. They make the market, and their position is mostly the other side of what others want. The commercials, at −29,792, are a hedging group, and an index of 65 says nothing here about direction.

At index 12 on 3 November we read the crowd as the side not to join, which is Fade the Crowd. That report ruled out selling with it. It did not make a buy.

How has the Swiss franc's crowd moved over three years?

It spent most of them far from where it is now. The chart draws the 156 weekly reports to 3 November 2026 in the pair's terms, with the share on top and the index below.

In the 156 reports to 29 September 2026 this crowd was never crowded short and was crowded long in 57 weeks, and its longest run on one side was 17 reports, long, from 9 April 2024. It was net long USD/CHF in all 156. So net long alone is the normal state, and only the index says where it stands. The index first reached 20 on 13 October, and has been at 20 or under in every report since. Those reports from before 2 October were built afterwards, by the same rules.

Which level mattered on USD/CHF?

Last week's low, because it was the nearest line on the side the crowd had been leaning against. We read a crowd at the short end as having stops under the lows, and under that low we read the stops of anyone who bought, and the orders of anyone waiting to sell a break.

At the close of Friday 6 November, USD/CHF was at 0.81993, and last week's low was 0.81269, set at 22:00 New York on Tuesday 3 November, after the count. The report holds no stop orders, so all of this is a reading of the structure.

What a member does with that level stays in the course. Here is only what price did with it.

What did USD/CHF do after the report?

It did not go near the low. On Monday 9 November the pair traded between 0.81739 and 0.82264, and closed at 0.81953. Its lowest price, at 03:30 New York, was 47 pips above last week's low.

There was no stop hunt, which most traders call a liquidity sweep, and so no Close Back to wait for. Our own reading says a hunt may come, not that it will.

On Tuesday 10 November the pair rose. It fell to 0.81737 at 02:15 New York, then climbed to 0.82677 at 11:30, 94 pips higher, and the day ended at 0.82521. That is 53 pips above the Friday close of 6 November, and 14 pips over the high of the week of 2 November, 0.82533. Our stored calendar was not checked for either day, so this page names no cause.

Read that with care. Two trading days are not a test, and the week of 9 November is not over. This is not a report that called a turn, since it never said when. 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 3 November are not part of this page's figures.

How has the Swiss franc's crowd moved week by week?

It stayed in the lower part of its range for two months and then slid to its lowest index in the table. Our index reads the crowd against its own 156 weeks, and each row here is a Tuesday count.

Those from before 2 October were built afterwards, by the same rules. The share never went above 20.0% in these weeks, and the crowd did not go net short once. For the row of one market worked column by column, see how to read the COT report.

What did each seat read in the Swiss franc's report?

The same table reads three ways, from the three seats.

• Retail sees funds short the franc futures and a strong franc, and may buy it. On Monday 9 November that buyer saw no hunt and a quiet day.
• The market maker, as we read it, sees a crowd that is still net long the pair, 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 1.3% while the crowd cut its position. It does not see when, and it cannot tell a hunt that comes from one that never does.

What do traders get wrong about the Swiss franc's COT report?

Three errors recur on this market.

1. Reading the futures as the pair. Short franc futures is long USD/CHF, so a crowd "short the franc" is long the pair. Turn it round before you read a side.
2. Thinking a net long position cannot be crowded short. On 3 November the crowd was net long 16,589 and at index 12. The index asks where it is against its own range.
3. Thinking index 12 means a bounce. The pair rose 53 pips in two days, which is a move, not proof. The report never said when.

The yen's crowd is turned round in the same way: see the yen's report, and for a report that read the other way, the Australian dollar's.

Course 1 of ForexiaPRO, Reading the Map, teaches this read step by step in lesson 1.3.4, Reading This Week's Report.