The current allocation of volume, open interest, and a lot more cotton futures information, can be found on the ICE futures website under “Featured Reports”.  Volume (viewed above as the green line) is defined as the total daily number of contracts traded in a daily session. The level of volume is often used to gauge the strength of continuing or changing trends. Typical cotton daily volume bounces around between 10,000 and 25,000 contracts.  During fund rolling periods like this week, volumes are usually higher.  Through Wednesday, May 21, ICE cotton futures showed above average volumes between 26,661 contracts (on May 21) and 36,852 contracts (on May 19).  The Jul’25 and Dec’25 contracts had 55% and 31% of the volume, respectively, as of May 22.

Open interest (the red line above) refers to the number of active positions at the end of the day (not double counting both the buyer and seller). Open interest by contract has a similar front month concentration as does volume, e.g., the Jul’25 and Dec’25 contracts had 47%, and 41% of the open interest, respectively, as of May 22.  Open interest does not fluctuate as much as daily volume, but there are patterns where sharp surges or declines in open interest are associated with sudden rallies or sell-offs, often in high volume.  For the week ending May 22, the day-to-day shifts in ICE cotton open interest showed a slight rise and leveling off.  Coupled with the rising price settlements through Tuesday, this suggests a little new long positioning early in the week.