The dealer map reads options positioning intraday. This reads futures positioning weekly: how speculators and hedgers are actually placed in S&P, Nasdaq, Russell and VIX futures, straight from the CFTC's Commitments of Traders.
Speculators (the CFTC calls them non-commercial) are the trend-following money — funds taking a view. Hedgers (commercial) are the other side, using futures against a real book. The two nets are close to mirror images by construction, so the useful signal is the direction of travel, not the level.
VIX is the one to read backwards: speculators are structurally short VIX futures, so a short position getting less short is the crowd paying up for protection.
The CFTC publishes on Friday afternoon for the prior Tuesday. It is public-domain U.S. government data, unlike most market data on the web.
The member portal — delayed dealer levels with the gamma flip and the expected-move band on SPY, QQQ and IWM, plus sectors, movers and the week’s catalysts. NoVo’s Mid-Day Tape Review every trading day and the Week Ahead on Sundays. And the NoVo Discord: live discussion and NoVo’s daily dealer-map read.
Create your free account Join the new NoVo Discord →Market data on this page is delayed and provided for general information only — it is not financial advice or a recommendation to trade. VIX/VXN/RVX are ~15-minute delayed (CBOE); index values use E-mini futures. Options trading involves significant risk of loss. © 2026 NoVo Options Trading.