We highlight the key price levels that each participant switches their positions between net long and net short based on 2025 data.
| PARTICIPANT | NET LONG | NET SHORT |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Institution (FI) | Below US$108/mt | N/A |
| Managed Money (MM) | Above US$101/mt | Below US$101/mt |
| Physicals | Below US$100/mt | Above US$101/mt |
| Others | N/A | Below US$108/mt |
Figure 1: Net-positions by participant segment and price comparison | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of MM with long positions fell for three consecutive weeks to 462. Accordingly, the number MM with short positions rose to 193 after previous week’s decline. Seasonally, more MMs are prone to long in 1HQ4 and 2HQ2, and there are more MMs with short positions in 1HQ2 and 1HQ3.
| 2025 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 483 | 350 | 423 | 427 |
| Low | 219 | 121 | 176 | 131 |
Figure 2: Number of position holders iron ore | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of physicals with long positions increase for five consecutive weeks to 119. Accordingly, the number of physicals with short positions increase to 118 after falling for two consecutive weeks. Seasonally, more physicals are prone to being long in 1Q, and there are more physicals with short positions in Q4.
| 2025 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 131 | 163 | 135 | 145 |
| Low | 90 | 128 | 77 | 107 |
Figure 3: Number of position holders iron ore | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of others with long positions increase to 124 after last week’s decline. The number of others with short positions increase to 82 after decreasing for two consecutive weeks.
| 2025 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 112 | 119 | 131 | 131 |
| Low | 70 | 73 | 68 | 83 |
Figure 4: Number of position holders iron ore | Source: SGX, KGI Research
We highlight the key price levels at which each participant switches between net long and net short, based on 2025 data.
| PARTICIPANT | NET LONG | NET SHORT |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Institution (FI) | N/A | N/A |
| Managed Money (MM) | Above US$7,000/t | Below US$11,000/mt |
| Physicals | Below US$11,000/mt | Above US$7,000/t |
| Others | Below US$11,000/mt | Above US$7,000/t |
Figure 5: Net-positions by participant segment and price comparison | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of MM with long positions remain unchanged at 53. Accordingly, the number of MM with remain unchanged at 23 for three consecutive weeks. Seasonally, more MM are prone to long in 1H, and there are more MM with short positions in 2H.
| 2025 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 48 | 50 | 47 | 51 |
| Low | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Figure 6: Number of position holders freight futures | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of physicals with long positions increase for two consecutive weeks to 114. Accordingly, the number of physicals with short positions fell for three consecutive weeks to 107. The number of physicals has been on a general upward trend since 2Q24, while physicals with short positions generally saw a downtrend since 2Q24.
| 2025 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 165 | 133 | 171 | 114 |
| Low | 103 | 76 | 98 | 78 |
Figure 7: Number of position holders freight futures | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of others with long positions increase to 21 after previous week’s decline and the number of others with short positions increase to 24.
| 2024 | 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 26 | 28 | 43 | 39 |
| Low | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Figure 8: Number of position holders freight futures | Source: SGX, KGI Research
We highlight the key price levels at which each participant switches between net long and net short, based on 2025 data.
| PARTICPANT | NET LONG | NET SHORT |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Institution (FI) | Below US$2.05/kg | N/A |
| Managed Money (MM) | Above US$1.70/kg | Below US$1.70/kg |
| Physicals | Below US$1.65/kg | Above US$1.65/kg |
| Others | Below US$2.05/kg | N/A |
Figure 9: Net-positions by participant segment and price comparison | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of MM with long positions increase to 134. Accordingly, the number of MM with short positions decrease to 35 after increasing for two consecutive weeks.
| 2025 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 106 | 91 | 114 | 56 |
| Low | 38 | 26 | 63 | 21 |
Figure 10: Number of position holders rubber futures | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of physicals with long positions increase to 35. Accordingly, the number of physicals with short positions increase for four consecutive weeks to 51. Seasonally, more physicals are prone to long in early Q3, and there are more physicals with short positions in Q4.
| 2025 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 50 | 41 | 39 | 48 |
| Low | 31 | 23 | 26 | 28 |
Figure 11: Number of position holders rubber futures | Source: SGX, KGI Research
The number of long holders increase to 61. Accordingly, the number of short holders increase to 43 after previous week decline.
| 2025 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | Short | Long | Short | |
| High | 62 | 42 | 77 | 48 |
| Low | 41 | 27 | 48 | 26 |
Figure 12: Number of position holders rubber futures | Source: SGX, KGI Research
Source: SGX, KGI Research
| CATEGORY | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Financial Institutions | An entity, such as a broker trading desk, bank trading desk or swap dealer, that uses the futures markets to manage or hedge the risk. |
| Managed Money | An entity engaged in organised futures trading on behalf of funds or special investment vehicles — including pension funds, asset managers, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups and family offices. |
| Physicals | An entity that predominantly engages in the physical markets and uses futures to manage or hedge risks associated with production, processing, trading, packing, handling, transportation, warehousing or distribution of a physical commodity. |
| Others | Every other trader not placed into the other three categories. E.g., Broker Agency, Bank Agency, Inter-Dealer Brokers, etc. |