What is the COT report, and should beginners read it?

The Commitments of Traders report publishes futures positioning weekly, showing what large speculators and commercial hedgers are doing. It's a slow, noisy sentiment gauge — useful at extremes, misleading in between.

Do you follow it?

• how you read it and what you look for
• a time it helped or hurt
• what you'd tell a beginner about it

If you use COT data, describe your method; there are many ways to get it wrong.