When choosing a Commitments of Traders Data Service, there are many factors to consider. Whether you use our Data Service or someone else's, below are the questions you should get the answers to before subscribing.

1. Do they actually provide data? Or do they just provide charts? Are they just images on a website? What are you really looking for?
2. Is the data compatible with your software? Do you have to use the Data Provider's software instead of your own? Do they only give you 1 option?
3. What timeframes does the data work over? Does it only work on Weekly or Monthly charts, or does it go down to daily as well? Will it work with hourly or minute charts if necessary?
4. Does it work with all of the symbols you trade? Do they only provide the Forex data, or all data? If using with futures, does it cover all of the futures, or just the ones that are easiest for the Data Service to provide? If working with Forex, do they only provide the base 7, or do they have data for all 19 tradable currency pairs?
5. What indicators do they provide? Do they provide any indicators at all? What tools are available for you? Will they help you to understand the data so that you can write your own if you need to?
6. How do they get you the data? Do they have a Downloader? Do they email the data to you? Do you have to download it from a website each week?
7. What data do you actually get? Is it the Commercials only? Is it all three groups? Does it have the information that you need or a way to extract it? How do they calculate their data? Is their data consistent with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission)? Can you verify it?
8. How do you pay for it? Are they professional enough to have their own merchant account? Or do they require a more hobbyist system like PayPal?
9. Do they actually understand the Commitments of Traders? Or are they just a programmer to get you the data? Is this just a hobby for them? How long have they been working with the Commitments of Traders? Can they explain how it works and why? What experience do they have trading?
10. Do they provide any training or resources? Do they help you to understand what you're doing?
11. How long have they been in business? Will they be around when you need them?
12. How much data do they provide? Does it only go back a couple of years? Or is it available for a significant period of time?
13. Do they have sample data for you to try? Can you practice with the data so make sure that it works with your software and that it's what you really want?
14. How much do they charge? And why? Do they charge too little or too much? What do you get for your money?

Print this list out and refer to it when you check out a Commitments of Traders Data Service.

Here are Shatterfield's responses to each of the questions above...

1. Shatterfield provides actual data in a software-compatible form usable with many charting packages. You can plot your own indicators, make your own trading systems, and look at the COT Data the way you want to see in. Not the way that some website requires it.
2. Shatterfield Data let's you use the software you're already comfortable with. It's compatible with many different charting software packages, including Metastock, TradeStation, MetaTrader 3, MetaTrader 4, AmiBroker, NeuroShell Trader, Fibonacci Trader, Excel, and more.
3. Different software handle timeframes in different ways. Here are the known configurations for Shatterfield Data:
   • MetaStock - All Timeframes.
   • TradeStation - Daily and Weekly
   • MetaTrader 3.x - Daily and Weekly
   • MetaTrader 4.x - All Timeframes
4. Shatterfield provides data for all actively trading contracts of any product. Actively traded for Shatterfield is any product that has enough reporting to have new values each week. We don't waste your time with contracts that only report four or five times a year. This includes Futures and Swaps, and with COT Synthetics, we have data usable for 19 Forex Currency Pairs.
5. We provide indicators for MetaStock, TradeStation, and MetaTrader 3 and 4. We publish all indicator information on our site so that you can write your own indicators as well. The indicators that we typically provide are:
   • Net Positions
   • COT Strength
   • COT Index
   • Group Open Interest
   • Group Positions Held
   • Contract Open Interest
6. Shatterfield provides you with a Data Downloader that handles all of the updating. Set it once with your username, password, and the type of data format you want to save, and then each week just click on Download. Our Downloader handles it all from there. No emails, no unzipping, no weekly navigating for folders.
7. Shatterfield provides chartable data for each trading group; The Commercials, the Non-Commercials, and the Small Traders. The data provides the Net Positions and the Combined Open Interest for each group. This allows you to extract the most used areas of the original COT Data from the CFTC report. The values that our indicators provide for the Group Positions Held can be matched directly with the CFTC report. (*This does not include data for the COT Synthetics*)
8. Shatterfield, through its parent company, the Trading Systems Analysis Group, handles all of its processing through an actual merchant account. Automatic monthly billing assures that you keep getting your data.
9. The people at Shatterfield have been trading for over 15 years and have been working with the Commitments of Traders for over a decade, even before the creation of its parent company. Shatterfield and the Trading Systems Analysis Group have created analysis techniques and indicators to help the trading community in both Futures and Forex.
10. Shatterfield's website provides training and information to help people get up to speed with the Commitments of Traders as quickly and accurately as possible. The training is free whether you are a subscriber or not. Free training includes over 40 minutes of walkthrough videos, articles, case studies, and references to reviews from other industry experts. There is also free historical data so that you can practice what you've learned.
11. While Shatterfield has only been around since November of 2005, its parent company, the Trading Systems Analysis Group, has been a stable company since 1998. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Shatterfield will be around for years to come.
12. Shatterfield data goes all the way back to 1986 when possible. If the contract wasn't trading that far back, then the data is provided back to the inception of the contract.
13. Shatterfield provides free historical data from 1986 all the way to the end of 2006. This data is available in both ASCII and MetaStock file formats. This way you can make sure that the data works with your software first, and also assures that you are comfortable using it.
14. Our pricing structure assures that we are able to continue to develop new data methods (such as COT Synthetics) and educational materials, as well as develop better software and methods as the information changes. Some data companies do charge less, but with Shatterfield, you get more than what you pay for.

Shatterfield also has couple of other added benefits not included above...

For MetaStock and MetaTrader; Net Positions, Strength, Index, and Group Positions Held are properly displayed for the Base/Quote relationship on Forex charts. Charts like the USD/JPY are shows in a reversed relationship as with other services.

We monitor the CFTC as well as other news sources involving the Commitments of Traders. Many groups monitor Shatterfield's news location to keep track of what's going on since we often report the news and industry changes first.