Method
How we check data and fix errors
Futures traders act on dates, margins and tick values, so a wrong number costs real money. This page explains where each figure comes from, how it is checked and what happens when something turns out to be wrong.
Four kinds of numbers, four routines
| Data | How it gets onto the page | How it is checked |
|---|---|---|
| Specifications size, tick, hours, delivery | Entered by hand from the CME Group and ICE Futures U.S. contract specifications. | Every contract page links to the official specification. Tick and point values are derived from size and tick, not typed in separately. |
| Margins | Entered by hand. CME does not allow automated retrieval of its margin pages, so there is no feed to copy from. | Updated monthly and whenever a change is announced. Each page shows the “as of” date, and the build raises a warning when a margin is older than 100 days. |
| Roll, first notice and expiry dates | Calculated from the written termination rule of each contract and the US exchange holiday calendar. Rebuilt daily. | Automated tests compare the rules with published exchange dates. Special rules such as the 25th-of-the-month logic of crude oil are coded as rules, not patched by hand. |
| COT positioning | Downloaded automatically from the CFTC Public Reporting Environment after each release. Net positions, COT Index, Movement Index and WILLCO are computed from it. | The build warns when the latest report is older than expected. The calculations are covered by tests; the method is explained in the COT guide. |
The editorial texts
The sections “How traders use …” on the contract pages and the guides are written by Thomas Blees, who has traded futures since 2008. Statements about market structure are derived from the contract specifications and the CFTC data in this site, not from memory. A position statement such as “net short in every week of the past three years” is recalculated against the stored 156 weeks of data before it is written down. Current prices and live position figures are never hard-coded into a text.
Before a larger batch of texts goes live, it goes through an external fact-check, including AI-assisted review. Findings are not taken over blindly: each one is checked against the exchange rules or the CFTC data first. This catches errors in both directions. It fixed, for example, the tick of the South African rand future and the delivery point of rough rice, and it also rejected a suggested cocoa first-notice date that did not match the ICE rules. Every substantive fix is listed in the change log.
What happens when an error is reported
- The report is compared with the primary source – the exchange specification, the exchange notice or the CFTC release – not with another website.
- If the site is wrong, the data file or the calculation rule is fixed. When a rule was wrong, the test for it is added or corrected, so the same mistake does not come back on another contract.
- The fix appears in the change log with the date and the reason.
- If the site is right, the answer says what the source says, with a link.
Messages go to [email protected] and are read personally. Replies usually take a few days.
What the site cannot guarantee
Exchanges change rules, holiday calendars and margins, often with one business day of notice. The site can be a day behind a margin change and cannot know about rule changes that were not yet published. Before you trade around a date or size a position from a margin figure, confirm it with the exchange or your broker. COT data describes positions as of the report date, not today.
Independence
The site is free to use and may be financed by advertising and by marked affiliate links. Neither influences the data or the signals; the about page lists the sources. Nothing here is investment advice (full disclaimer).
See also: Change log · About and data sources · Contact