COT Release Schedule: Friday 15:30 New York, Counted on the Tuesday

The COT release schedule is the CFTC's weekly timetable: the report is published on Friday at 15:30 New York time and counts positions as of the Tuesday before. A federal holiday can move a release to the Monday, and in 2026 the CFTC lists six reports that way.

What is the COT release schedule?

Friday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, which is 15:30 in New York. That is 20:30 UTC while New York is on standard time and 19:30 UTC while it is on daylight time. The CFTC calls its published schedule tentative, so in a week with a holiday, read its list and not a rule of thumb.

Why is the data always a few days old?

Because the count is of Tuesday and the release is three days later. A trader reading the report on Friday afternoon is looking at positions that were taken, or closed, up to Tuesday's close. Anything that happened on Wednesday and Thursday is not in it. Commitments of Traders explains what the report counts, and the post on how old the data is goes into what that costs.

When a holiday delays the report to the Monday, the data is the same Tuesday's, so it is six days old. The weekday of the release therefore does not tell you the week. The date at the top of the report does.

Which 2026 reports come out on a Monday?

The CFTC's 2026 list marks six: 5 January, 22 June, 6 July, 16 November, 30 November and 28 December. As of 12 November 2026 the next three releases are:

• Monday 16 November, with positions as of Tuesday 10 November.
• Monday 30 November, with positions as of Tuesday 24 November, after the Thanksgiving week.
• Monday 28 December, with positions as of Tuesday 22 December.

Between them the reports come on Friday, 11 and 18 December among them. The CFTC's page showed no dates for 2027 on that day. The release date page keeps the list, and the COT report release schedule is where to look for the next four.

What happens to the schedule in a holiday week?

The CFTC marks a delayed release on its list, and the delay is one or two days. Because the holidays fall at the end of the week or just after it, every delayed release on the 2026 list landed on a Monday. In those weeks the next regular Friday report still comes out on its own Friday, so for a few days there are two reports close together, each describing a different Tuesday. Check the date at the top before you compare them.

What does the schedule mean for a reading?

It sets how you use a week's count. The positions are a few days old on arrival, so a report is a map of where the crowd stood on Tuesday, not where it stands when you read it. A reading at an extreme, a crowded stance, can last for months, so the lag matters less than the question of whether anything in the count can be acted on. Our index, the COT index, is rebuilt once a week with each release.

How do you keep track of it?

The COT Report page for members shows each week as it is published, with the week's release date. The CFTC's own page has the list of dates, and the guide to how to read the COT report shows what to do with the report once you have it. The full subject is in the COT report hub.

Where is the release schedule taught?

Course 1 of ForexiaPRO, Reading the Map, teaches it in lesson 1.3.1, alongside what the report counts. The weekly review habit in Course 4 puts the Friday report into the review of the week.