Asset Managers and Hedge Funds have now built the largest Nasdaq Futures short position in history. According to the latest CFTC Commitments of Traders reports—the weekly breakdown of futures open interest by trader category released each Friday based on the prior Tuesday’s data—they stand at a record net short in Nasdaq 100 futures.
Positioning has
dropped sharply into negative territory through 2026, reaching roughly
–$18 billion to –$21 billion when combining the Asset
Manager/Institutional and Leveraged Funds categories tracked in the
Traders in Financial Futures reports. On the 2020–2026 chart the red positioning line has plunged to its lowest point while the black NDX index line continues to trade near record highs, underscoring a striking divergence after the substantial long positions these same groups held throughout 2025.
COT reports classify large futures traders mainly via the Legacy format into Commercials (hedgers managing business/physical risk), Non-Commercials (large profit-seeking speculators such as hedge funds and CTAs), and Non-Reportables (small traders below thresholds); the Disaggregated version further splits these into Producer/Merchant/Processor/User, Swap Dealers, Managed Money, and Other Reportables for physical commodities, while the Traders in Financial Futures (TFF) report uses Dealer/Intermediary (sell-side), Asset Manager/Institutional (pensions, mutual funds), Leveraged Funds (hedge funds/CTAs), and Other Reportables for financial contracts.
In the context of the MacroCharts NDX chart above, the red line tracks combined net futures positioning of the TFF report’s Asset Manager/Institutional (pensions, mutual funds, insurers) and Leveraged Funds (hedge funds, CTAs) categories—precisely the “Asset Managers & Hedge Funds” group shown—where net position equals longs minus shorts (positive = net long, negative = net short). Extremes, especially a record net short while the black NDX price line sits near highs, are often read as crowded positioning that can act as a contrarian signal, raising the odds of short-covering rallies if the shorts are forced to unwind.