Commitments of Participants
A weekly snapshot of aggregate positions held by categories of market participants across the major regulated markets.
Transparency is one of the FMC's statutory objectives. We publish a wide range of datasets — free of charge and in machine-readable formats — so that investors, journalists, academics, and firms can see how UK investment markets are behaving. All figures are aggregated and anonymised; nothing we publish identifies an individual investor or position.
The Commitments of Participants series shows the aggregate long and short positions held by broad categories of participant — dealers, asset managers, leveraged accounts, and other reportable holders. It is widely used to gauge market sentiment and crowding.
| Report | Frequency | Period | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commitments of Participants — Equities | Weekly | Current week | CSV / JSON / PDF |
| Commitments of Participants — Commodities | Weekly | Current week | CSV / JSON / PDF |
| Commitments of Participants — FX | Weekly | Current week | CSV / JSON / PDF |
| Commitments of Participants — Rates | Weekly | Current week | CSV / JSON / PDF |
| Bank Participation Report | Monthly | Current month | CSV / PDF |
How to read the data
- Positions are aggregated by participant category, never by individual firm or person.
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- Net positioning is long minus short; a large net-long reading can indicate crowding.
- Figures are provisional when first released and may be revised in the following publication.
Market Surveillance
The Division of Market Supervision runs automated surveillance across regulated venues to detect potential manipulation, insider dealing, and disorderly trading. We publish quarterly statistics summarising the volume of alerts generated, the number escalated to in-depth review, and the actions that followed — without disclosing live or sensitive cases.
| Metric (latest quarter) | Value |
|---|---|
| Automated surveillance alerts | 18,400 |
| Escalated to analyst review | 1,260 |
| Referred for investigation | 54 |
| Suspicious-transaction reports received | 312 |
Financial Data for Firms
Selected financial data submitted by licensed firms, including capital levels and the amount of customer money held in segregation. This is one of the clearest ways for the public to see whether the sector as a whole is well capitalised and whether client money is being protected as required.
| Dataset | Frequency | Coverage | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer money in segregation | Monthly | All licensed firms | £9.6bn |
| Aggregate net capital surplus | Quarterly | All licensed firms | £2.1bn |
| Client complaint statistics | Quarterly | By firm | 3,940 closed |
| Firms below early-warning capital | Quarterly | All licensed firms | 6 |
Swaps & Derivatives
Aggregated reporting on swaps and derivatives activity in the markets supervised by the Commission, drawn from trade-repository data. The series covers gross notional outstanding, cleared versus uncleared volumes, and activity by asset class — helping the public and policymakers understand leverage and interconnectedness in the system.
Publication schedule
Most series follow a fixed release calendar so users know exactly when fresh data will appear:
| Series | Released | Reference period |
|---|---|---|
| Commitments of Participants | Every Friday, 15:30 (London) | Week ending Tuesday |
| Bank Participation Report | 2nd business day of the month | Previous month |
| Client-money & capital data | Mid-month | Previous month / quarter |
| Surveillance statistics | Within 6 weeks of quarter-end | Previous quarter |
| Annual Reports | Summer | Previous financial year |
Methodology & data access
Every dataset is published with a methodology note describing its sources, definitions, reporting thresholds, and known limitations. We follow the principles of the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice — data are produced impartially, released on a pre-announced schedule, and revisions are flagged transparently.
- Formats: CSV and JSON for analysis, PDF for reading. Bulk historical files are zipped by year.
- Licence: data are published under an open licence and may be reused with attribution to the FMC.
- Programmatic access: a read-only data API is available to registered users for automated retrieval.
- Revisions: provisional values are marked and superseded figures retained in the archive.
Annual Reports
FMC Annual Report — Investor Protection Outcomes
A full review of authorisation, supervision, and enforcement results for the financial year, laid before Parliament.
FMC Enforcement Statistics
Cases opened and closed, penalties imposed (£48m), and restitution returned to investors (£31.7m).
Annual Accounts & Audit
Audited financial statements of the Commission and a report from the External Audit Committee.
Business Plan & Fee Rates
The year's supervisory priorities and the periodic fees charged to authorised firms.
Historical archive
Frequently asked questions
Is the data free to use?
Yes. All published datasets are free and released under an open licence. You may reuse them, including commercially, provided you attribute the FMC and do not imply official endorsement.
Can I see data about a specific firm or person?
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Why do figures sometimes change after release?
Early releases are provisional. As firms submit corrected or late data, figures are revised in the next scheduled publication. Revisions are clearly marked and previous versions are kept in the archive.
How do I get automated access?
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