Ag Market UpdateGrainsLivestock

Grain & Livestock COT Report: June 26, 2026 (June 23 numbers)

By June 26, 2026June 29th, 2026No Comments
COT Report June 23
Ag Optimus · Weekly Positioning

Commitments of Traders

Grain & livestock futures · Report week ending June 23, 2026

⏱ Read the clock before the numbers. These positions were frozen at Tuesday’s close and released Friday — already a few days old. They show where the crowd was, not where it is today.

Tue positions taken → Fri released → You read it now

This week we put Managed Money — the big speculative funds — front and center, because that’s the crowd whose positioning matters most to producers. The bar on each market shows the 52-week rank: how extreme the funds’ current position is against the past year. A rank near 52 means they’re as far out on that limb as they’ve been all year; a rank near the middle means it’s closer to normal. Commercials (producers + swap dealers, the hedgers) are shown as context.

Funds net long   Funds net short  ·  bar = how extreme vs. the past year

Corn

002602

Funds moderately short

52-week extreme30/52
normal (low)extreme (high)
Short, but not at an extreme. Isolating the funds changes the picture here. The blended speculative number looked heavily short, but Managed Money alone sits at −69,691 — a 52-week rank of just 30, only modestly bearish against its own year. The funds have been selling steadily for a month (from a big long down to net short), and commercials have moved the other way to net long. So the direction is bearish, but there’s still room for the funds to get more short before this looks crowded. Open interest rose over the month, giving the move some conviction.
Four-week data — Managed Money (the funds) vs. Commercials
Week Managed Money WoW Chg 52W Rank Commercials Open Int.
06-23 −69,691 −23,264 30/52 83,747 2,639,787
06-16 −46,427 −41,102 26/52 53,588 2,661,920
06-09 −5,325 −120,407 19/52 34,071 2,566,213
06-02 115,082 −90,422 13/52 −47,633 2,454,804

Soybeans

005602

Funds long, trimming

52-week extreme31/52
normal (low)extreme (high)
A long that’s being walked down. Managed Money is still net long at +36,679, but the rank of 31 says that’s middle-of-the-road, not stretched — and the funds have cut this long hard every week (from 156K down to 37K). Commercials remain modestly net short. This is orderly long liquidation rather than a crowded extreme in either direction. Open interest is easing as the long comes off, the classic signature of positions closing rather than new money arriving.
Four-week data — Managed Money (the funds) vs. Commercials
Week Managed Money WoW Chg 52W Rank Commercials Open Int.
06-23 36,679 −16,139 31/52 −13,069 1,277,543
06-16 52,818 −37,938 30/52 −34,794 1,305,487
06-09 90,756 −65,294 27/52 −43,662 1,283,568
06-02 156,050 −33,502 22/52 −139,444 1,293,079

Wheat

001612

Funds near flat

52-week extreme17/52
normal (low)extreme (high)
Essentially neutral. Once you strip out the other categories, Managed Money in wheat is almost flat — just −1,285, with a low 52-week rank of 17. The funds keep swinging from small long to small short week to week with no conviction either way, while commercials hold a steady net long. There’s no real positioning signal here this week; it’s background. Open interest has been sliding, reinforcing the low-conviction read.
Four-week data — Managed Money (the funds) vs. Commercials
Week Managed Money WoW Chg 52W Rank Commercials Open Int.
06-23 −1,285 −8,905 17/52 17,777 300,776
06-16 7,620 +12,163 14/52 11,185 322,423
06-09 −4,543 −18,020 16/52 19,401 324,328
06-02 13,477 −13,393 10/52 7,318 346,354

Feeder Cattle

061641

Funds long, near extreme

52-week extreme43/52
normal (low)extreme (high)
A crowded long building. This is more stretched than the blended number showed. Managed Money is net long +15,227 with a 52-week rank of 43 — toward the high end of the past year, and the funds have added to this long for several weeks. A crowded long is the position most exposed to a fast unwind if a bearish surprise lands. For a feeder, that’s a reason to watch your own exposure here, not a forecast. Your close-out dates and local cash still come first.
Four-week data — Managed Money (the funds) vs. Commercials
Week Managed Money WoW Chg 52W Rank Commercials Open Int.
06-23 15,227 +2,104 43/52 −3,317 89,866
06-16 13,123 +2,203 49/52 −3,544 86,097
06-09 10,920 +77 50/52 −975 87,153
06-02 10,843 +248 51/52 −320 87,490

Lean Hogs

054642

Funds at a 52-week short extreme

52-week extreme52/52
normal (low)extreme (high)
The most extreme position on the board. This is the standout this week. Managed Money is net short −25,560 with a 52-week rank of 52 — the funds are as short lean hogs as they’ve been all year, and they’ve added to that short every week for a month. Commercials sit heavily net long against them. A short this crowded is exactly the kind of position that carries sharp short-covering risk if the story turns even a little — but an extreme can also stay extreme. It tells you the risk is lopsided, not which way price goes next. Open interest fell over the month, so some of this is older longs leaving rather than fresh aggressive shorting.
Four-week data — Managed Money (the funds) vs. Commercials
Week Managed Money WoW Chg 52W Rank Commercials Open Int.
06-23 −25,560 −4,601 52/52 23,899 412,623
06-16 −20,959 −7,258 52/52 29,774 430,813
06-09 −13,701 −7,150 52/52 11,489 457,144
06-02 −6,551 −19,536 52/52 35,524 455,899

Live Cattle

057642

Big long, but not extreme

52-week extreme17/52
normal (low)extreme (high)
A large long that’s actually middle-of-the-range. Here’s where the rank really matters. Managed Money is net long +126,025 — a big number that looked like the most crowded position on the board last week. But against its own year, the rank is just 17: the funds have been this long, and far longer, plenty of times. So while it’s a sizeable long, it’s not a historical extreme, and the build has flattened out the last two weeks. Commercials are heavily net short as the natural hedge counterpart. Context, not a red flag — your close-out math and cash market drive the call.
Four-week data — Managed Money (the funds) vs. Commercials
Week Managed Money WoW Chg 52W Rank Commercials Open Int.
06-23 126,025 +1,676 17/52 −117,638 433,340
06-16 124,349 +15,347 23/52 −116,519 431,189
06-09 109,002 −5,962 37/52 −102,374 424,383
06-02 114,964 −5,605 33/52 −96,189 482,729

The bigger picture this week

Isolating Managed Money changes a couple of the headlines. In the grains, the funds are leaning bearish corn and trimming a soybean long, but neither sits at a 52-week extreme — there’s room to run either way. Wheat is effectively flat. The real story is in the meats: lean hogs stand out, with the funds at a 52-week short extreme (rank 52) and pressing it further, while feeder cattle show a crowded long building (rank 43).

The cautionary tale is live cattle: the funds hold a large +126K long that looks crowded on the raw number, but a 52-week rank of just 17 says it’s middle-of-the-range, not extreme. That’s exactly why the rank matters — a big number isn’t the same as a crowded one.

The 52-week rank answers the question the raw net number can’t: is this position actually extreme, or just normal noise? Read it as a snapshot of where the funds were last Tuesday — weigh it against your own breakeven, basis, and close-out window, and treat a genuine extreme as a reason to watch your own exposure, not as a forecast.

Want to talk through what this week’s positioning means for your operation?
Our brokers farm and feed too.

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Source: CFTC Commitments of Traders (disaggregated), week ending June 23, 2026. Managed Money = the large speculative funds. Commercials shown = Producer/Merchant net + Swap Dealer net. 52-week rank shows where the current Managed Money net position falls within the past year (1 = least extreme, 52 = most extreme for the period shown). Open interest reflects total reported contracts. Futures and options trading involve substantial risk and are not suitable for everyone. Past positioning is not indicative of future results. This material is provided for general information and is the opinion of Ag Optimus; it is not a recommendation to buy or sell any contract. All trading decisions remain yours. Please check COT reports to verify for your own accuracy.  

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