Transparency
Data Sources
Where every number on this site comes from, what it powers, and how often it updates.
Every dashboard is built from pre-computed data so pages load fast. The table below lists each underlying source, how current it is, and any limitations to keep in mind. Sources marked Planned are not live yet.
COT — Commitment of Traders
Live- Source
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) — official Legacy, Disaggregated, and Traders-in-Financial-Futures reports.
- Access
- Public, free, no account required.
- Powers
- The Market Dashboard, COT Shortcut, Market Detail, and the GOLD card's COT sub-tab — every COT positioning indicator (COT Index, OI Stochastic, WILLCO, COT Movement, Composite COT, Spec/Comm ratios).
- Update cadence
- The CFTC publishes once a week (Friday, covering the prior Tuesday's positions). We refresh from the CFTC archive and rebuild the dashboards on that schedule.
- Notes & limitations
- A ~3-day reporting lag between the position date and publication is inherent to the CFTC report itself — it is not a delay in this app.
Gold Fear & Greed (Sentiment)
Live- Source
- OnOff.Markets public Gold Fear & Greed Index (the 0–100 score plus its component sub-signals).
- Access
- Public, free, no account required.
- Powers
- The GOLD card's Sentiment sub-tab — the gauge, the full history chart, and the component breakdown.
- Update cadence
- Snapshotted automatically every day and archived. OnOff only publishes a rolling 1-year window; because we keep each daily value, our history keeps growing past that one year over time.
- Notes & limitations
- Covers gold only. The value reflects OnOff's own methodology; we redraw and archive it, we do not recompute it.
Options flow (GLD Put/Call)
Planned- Source
- To be selected — the GLD volume Put/Call ratio and Put/Call open-interest ratio (e.g. Barchart's GLD Put/Call Ratio, OptionCharts, or Interactive Brokers).
- Access
- Pending — most options-data providers require a paid subscription or a brokerage account.
- Powers
- Will power the GOLD card's Options-flow sub-tab, ideally with OptionCharts-style gauges.
- Update cadence
- To be defined once a source is chosen.
- Notes & limitations
- Not yet live. Waiting on a decision about which data provider to use (see the provider comparison below) and on the corresponding access/terms. The sub-tab currently shows a placeholder.
Strategy price history
Live- Source
- Yahoo Finance (daily/monthly price series for the futures and ETFs used in the strategy back-tests, e.g. Corn, Gold ETF, Silver ETF, S&P 500).
- Access
- Public, free, no account required.
- Powers
- The dedicated strategy cards (Corn Donchian, Corn MA, Monthly MA Crossover, GLD/SLV strategies, 0DTE Moves, etc.) — their optimization grids and performance metrics.
- Update cadence
- Refreshed when a strategy's back-test is rebuilt; results are pre-computed and cached.
- Notes & limitations
- Yahoo Finance is a free, unofficial feed and can occasionally have gaps or revisions; back-test outputs are recomputed on each rebuild.
Orange Juice futures
Live- Source
- Yahoo Finance, with Nasdaq Data Link (ICE Orange Juice futures) as a cross-check/fallback.
- Access
- Public. The Nasdaq Data Link cross-check can use an optional free API key for higher rate limits.
- Powers
- The Orange Juice seasonality strategy card.
- Update cadence
- Refreshed when the back-test is rebuilt.
- Notes & limitations
- Two independent sources are used so the price history can be validated.
Saxo OTC FX options
Live- Source
- Saxo Bank's public FX Options web tool (at-the-money volatility, risk reversals, pin risk).
- Access
- Public web data, no account required.
- Powers
- The Saxo OTC dashboard.
- Update cadence
- Snapshotted on demand; the live Saxo figures move intraday.
- Notes & limitations
- Coverage is the major currency pairs across standard tenors (1W–1Y).
Options flow — choosing a data provider
Decision neededThe Options-flow sub-tab (GLD volume Put/Call ratio, Put/Call open-interest ratio, and OptionCharts-style gauges) needs a paid options-data source — there is no free or public feed for it. There are three realistic options, trading off cost, how closely they match the requested gauges, and how cleanly we can automate the daily update.
| Provider | What you get | Needs | Monthly | ≈ Weekly | ≈ Daily | Automation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive Brokers (IBKR)Suggested | The full GLD option chain (volume + open interest per strike). We compute the Put/Call volume and open-interest ratios ourselves. | An IBKR account + the OPRA US-options market-data subscription, accessed via IBKR's API. | ≈ $0–10 | ≈ $0–2.50 | ≈ $0–0.35 | Full API — clean automated daily collection. |
| OptionCharts.io | The same GLD option-overview gauges the client referenced, plus Put/Call ratios. Premium is 15-minute delayed with CSV export; Ultimate adds real-time data. | A paid OptionCharts subscription (Premium or Ultimate). | ≈ $20–30 (Premium) | ≈ $5–7 | ≈ $0.70–1.00 | No official API — CSV export (semi-manual) or scraping (against their terms). |
| Barchart OnDemand | The exact 'GLD Put/Call Ratio' the client cited, including historical Put/Call ratios via a proper REST API (back-history available). | A paid Barchart OnDemand API plan (usage-based / custom). | from ≈ $500 | ≈ $115 | ≈ $16 | Proper REST API — cleanest automation, plus historical back-fill. |
Prices are approximate, as of June 2026 — confirm with each provider. Every provider bills monthly; the weekly/daily figures are just the monthly cost spread out for comparison. Sources: IBKR market data, OptionCharts, Barchart OnDemand.
Why each one
Interactive Brokers (IBKR). Cheapest and most legitimate if you already trade at IBKR: the OPRA fee is small and is often fully waived once monthly trading commissions pass a low threshold. We own the calculation, and — like the sentiment archive — history accumulates from the day we start collecting. Trade-off: it's the most build effort (an IBKR data connection), and you don't get back-history, only forward.
OptionCharts.io. Cheapest way to match the exact gauges in the client's screenshot, with low cost and a 15-minute-delayed feed that's fine for a daily ratio. The catch is there's no clean API: automated ingestion means a CSV-export routine rather than a real feed, so it's more manual to keep fresh.
Barchart OnDemand. The most 'correct' source for the precise metric the client named, and the only one that hands us historical Put/Call ratios out of the box (no waiting to accumulate). But at roughly $500/month it's overkill unless options flow becomes a core, paid part of the product.
Suggestion: if you already trade at Interactive Brokers, start there — it's the cheapest and most legitimate, and we build the ratios ourselves (history accrues from when we start). If not, and you mainly want those gauges at low cost, OptionCharts Premium is the pragmatic choice. Reserve Barchart for when options flow needs to be a core, historical data product.
Data is refreshed by re-running the build pipelines and publishing the updated site. Pricing and positioning figures are for research and information only and are not investment advice.