Nasdaq Short Crowd Shrunk in Latest CFTC Report

A viral Nasdaq futures chart got the direction right but missed the timing. CFTC data show asset managers and leveraged funds held their largest combined short side in Nasdaq Mini and Micro Nasdaq-100 futures in the August 4 report, not in the latest August 11 report.

By August 11, the combined short side had fallen to 268,239 contracts from 430,700 one week earlier. The combined net position was still short, but it was no longer the peak.

What the CFTC report shows

The CFTC's latest CFTC latest TFF futures-only short report covers positions as of August 11. The CFTC Commitments of Traders overview describes the weekly report as a Tuesday open-interest breakdown for markets where enough traders meet reporting levels.

In the Nasdaq Mini contract, asset managers were long 104,250 contracts and short 42,585, while leveraged funds were long 34,549 and short 123,674.

In the Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 contract, asset managers were long 9,726 and short 489. Leveraged funds were long 25,471 and short 101,491.

Put together, those two Nasdaq contracts left asset managers plus leveraged funds with 173,996 long contracts and 268,239 short contracts. That is a net short of 94,243 contracts. It is large, but it is less than half the August 4 net short of 228,122 contracts in the same combined series.

Why the record claim needs a timestamp

The record was real in the official history checked here. It just belonged to the prior report.

Using the CFTC historical compressed TFF files, the combined asset-manager and leveraged-money short side across Nasdaq Mini and Micro Nasdaq-100 futures reached 430,700 contracts on August 4. The same calculation put the combined net position at negative 228,122 contracts.

On August 11, the combined short side ranked outside the top ten observations in the 2010 to 2026 history checked for this article. The net short ranked the same way: still elevated, but no longer the extreme.

That distinction matters because positioning data can reverse before a chart finishes spreading. The CFTC report is weekly and dated to Tuesday positions. A post seen Monday afternoon can be talking about data that was already superseded by a newer Friday release.

What remains unresolved

The CFTC categories do not identify individual funds. "Asset manager" and "leveraged money" are reportable-trader buckets, not a named list of hedge funds. The figures also count contracts, not dollars, and the Micro contract is one-tenth the Nasdaq Mini multiplier. Those boundary problems sit beside broader market-structure records such as the SEC-CFTC swap data reporting watch and the CFTC affiliated market makers proposal.

That means the useful read is crowding, not a single trade recommendation. The latest report still shows leveraged funds short both Nasdaq contracts on net. It also shows the most dramatic combined short side had already been cut.

The next check is the August 18 position date, which should appear in the following CFTC release. If the short side rebuilds, the crowding story returns. If it keeps falling, the better story is how quickly a record positioning chart went stale.

This article is informational only and is not investment, legal, tax or accounting advice.