# Agricultural index-trader crowding | PIER20 benchmarks

How concentrated are index-trader flows across corn, wheat and soybean futures?

Agricultural index-trader crowding tracks the CFTC Supplemental Commodity Index Trader (CIT) Net/OI for corn, wheat and soybean futures. CIT is the official published Index Trader cohort for selected agricultural contracts. The composite is the equal-weight mean and isolates the passive-investment leg of agricultural positioning from the Managed Money speculative leg on the individual contract pages.

As of **4 August 2026**, the latest reading is **13.74 % of OI**. That is up 1.0 pp over the past year and below its long-run median of 20.69 % of OI.

## Summary statistics (full history)

| Series | First | Latest | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index-trader crowding | 33.24 | 13.74 | 11.36 | 36.27 |
| Corn | 26.54 | 14.92 | 9.10 | 32.73 |
| Wheat | 49.42 | 10.86 | 6.57 | 51.00 |
| Soybeans | 23.76 | 15.45 | 7.07 | 32.16 |

## Last 24 readings

| Date | Index-trader crowding | Corn | Wheat | Soybeans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Feb 2026 | 17.08 | 16.23 | 18.23 | 16.78 |
| 3 Mar 2026 | 17.62 | 16.87 | 18.64 | 17.35 |
| 10 Mar 2026 | 17.19 | 17.34 | 17.44 | 16.80 |
| 17 Mar 2026 | 17.20 | 17.08 | 17.84 | 16.68 |
| 24 Mar 2026 | 17.05 | 16.55 | 17.46 | 17.15 |
| 31 Mar 2026 | 17.51 | 16.39 | 18.43 | 17.72 |
| 7 Apr 2026 | 17.12 | 16.28 | 17.51 | 17.59 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | 16.06 | 14.76 | 16.74 | 16.67 |
| 21 Apr 2026 | 16.63 | 15.43 | 17.93 | 16.53 |
| 28 Apr 2026 | 18.28 | 17.20 | 18.56 | 19.08 |
| 5 May 2026 | 17.99 | 17.56 | 17.81 | 18.58 |
| 12 May 2026 | 17.79 | 17.33 | 17.35 | 18.68 |
| 19 May 2026 | 18.15 | 17.16 | 18.12 | 19.17 |
| 26 May 2026 | 19.01 | 17.78 | 19.05 | 20.19 |
| 2 Jun 2026 | 17.12 | 15.99 | 15.93 | 19.43 |
| 9 Jun 2026 | 15.26 | 13.91 | 13.86 | 18.02 |
| 16 Jun 2026 | 14.68 | 13.18 | 14.01 | 16.85 |
| 23 Jun 2026 | 14.83 | 12.86 | 14.57 | 17.05 |
| 30 Jun 2026 | 15.07 | 13.24 | 13.77 | 18.18 |
| 7 Jul 2026 | 12.98 | 12.45 | 11.20 | 15.30 |
| 14 Jul 2026 | 12.41 | 12.54 | 10.29 | 14.40 |
| 21 Jul 2026 | 13.00 | 13.44 | 10.89 | 14.68 |
| 28 Jul 2026 | 13.68 | 15.15 | 10.90 | 14.99 |
| 4 Aug 2026 | 13.74 | 14.92 | 10.86 | 15.45 |

## How to read this benchmark

**What a high or low reading means.** A high reading means index-trader flows are heavily net long across all three contracts. The structural flow is pushing in one direction, which tends to reinforce the trend. A low or negative reading means index-trader net positions are flat or net short, which is unusual for a structurally long cohort and suggests a portfolio rebalance or a reallocation away from commodity indices.

**Why the Supplemental CIT report.** The Supplemental CIT report is the CFTC publication that isolates Index Traders on selected agricultural contracts. It is not the Disaggregated Other Reportables residual, which mixes index flows with other unclassified reportable traders.

**Limitations.** CIT coverage is limited to the agricultural contracts the CFTC includes in the Supplemental report. The composite averages Net/OI across contracts with different open-interest scales. Treat the chart as context for passive-flow positioning, not investment advice.

## How this benchmark is used

**Passive commodity-flow concentration.** When index-trader net positions are large and uniform across all three contracts, the passive buyer base is concentrated, a setup that has coincided with trend persistence in agricultural futures and with sharper reversals when the index flows rebalance.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the current agricultural index-trader crowding?**

As of 4 August 2026, the latest reading is 13.74 % of OI. That is up 1.0 pp over the past year and below its long-run median of 20.69 % of OI.

**How often is this benchmark updated?**

This benchmark is built on weekly data. The page is refreshed when the source publishes new observations; the freshness block below the chart shows the exact data-through date and when PIER20 last fetched the file.

**What data sources does this chart use?**

The chart is built from Index-trader crowding, Corn, Wheat and Soybeans, sourced from the CFTC Commitments of Traders report.

**How is this different from Managed Money positioning?**

Managed money is the speculative cohort (hedge funds, CTAs) on our contract pages, and it trades directionally. This page isolates the official Index Trader cohort from the Supplemental CIT report, which is long-biased and benchmark-driven.

## Methodology

- Formula: CIT Net/OI_i = (cit_positions_long_all − cit_positions_short_all) / open_interest_all × 100; composite = equal-weight mean
- Frequency: Weekly
- Sources: Index-trader crowding (index-trader:overall) https://publicreporting.cftc.gov/stories/s/r4w3-av2u?code=COMPOSITE; Corn (index-trader:corn) https://publicreporting.cftc.gov/stories/s/r4w3-av2u?code=002602; Wheat (index-trader:wheat) https://publicreporting.cftc.gov/stories/s/r4w3-av2u?code=001602; Soybeans (index-trader:soybeans) https://publicreporting.cftc.gov/stories/s/r4w3-av2u?code=005602. Data via the CFTC Commitments of Traders report.
- Data through: 4 August 2026
- Last refreshed: 04 Aug 2026

Full interactive chart: https://pier20.com/benchmarks/agricultural-index-trader-crowding
Disclaimer: research software output, not investment advice.