---
id: openbb-cftc
version: "1.4.2"
license: AGPL-3.0-only
license_treatment: agpl
maintenance: active
---

# openbb-cftc — The mission of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets through sound regulation.

License: agpl · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 91.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

openbb-cftc is an extension to the OpenBB platform that wraps the CFTC Commitment of Traders database, exposing it through a Python API and optional REST server. It lets you search for commodity contracts by name and retrieve historical open-interest data broken down by trader classification (commercial, non-commercial, managed money, etc.) across different report types.

The package depends on openbb-core and openbb-platform-api, integrating into the OpenBB ecosystem as a router module with two endpoints: `cot_search` for finding contracts and `cot` for fetching reports. Data can be returned as DataFrames or accessed via REST. No credentials are required, though an optional free Socrata app_token can be set to avoid IP-based throttling.

Use it for:

- Search for specific commodity futures contracts (e.g., gold, crude oil) and retrieve their full historical positioning data
- Analyze trader sentiment and positioning trends across commercial, non-commercial, and other trader classes
- Build dashboards or monitoring systems using the REST API to track open interest and trader classification changes
- Compare positioning across different report types (Legacy, Disaggregated, Financial, Supplemental) for the same contract
- Integrate CFTC data into quantitative trading or research workflows via Python DataFrames

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides access to CFTC Commitment of Traders data through a Python API and REST interface, enabling queries of historical contract positions by CFTC code.

Yes, if you need CFTC Commitment of Traders data and are comfortable with AGPL-3.0 licensing. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, and integrates cleanly into the OpenBB ecosystem. No known vulnerabilities. Consider it essential for derivatives market analysis; skip it if AGPL licensing conflicts with your project or if you need a standalone tool outside OpenBB.

## Install

pip install openbb-cftc
uv add openbb-cftc
poetry add openbb-cftc

## Installing openbb-cftc

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel. Actively maintained as of 51 days ago. Requires running `openbb-build` after installation to set up static assets, and optionally `openbb-api` to start a REST server.

License in practice: Licensed under AGPL-3.0-only, which requires derivative works and modifications to be open-sourced under the same license. Suitable for internal tools and open-source projects; review carefully if you plan to distribute proprietary software.

Quickstart:

pip install openbb-cftc
openbb-build

from openbb import obb
results = obb.cftc.cot_search(query="gold")
report = obb.cftc.cot(code="CFTC_088695", measure="percent_of_oi", limit=4)

Requires Python 3.10–3.14. Optional: free Socrata account and app_token to avoid IP throttling; set CFTC_APP_TOKEN environment variable if using one.

Verify before relying:

- Exact throttling behavior and rate limits when using IP address without app_token
- Performance characteristics and response times for large historical queries
- Whether all four report types (Legacy, Disaggregated, Financial, Supplemental) are fully implemented in this version

## Package facts

- License: AGPL-3.0-only (agpl)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 91.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

CFTC commitment of traders data, futures market positioning reports, commodity trader positions API, open interest analysis, CFTC database access, derivatives market data, trader classification reports, cftc-data, futures-market, openbb-extension

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/openbb-cftc) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/openbb-cftc/)