Integrating swaps and futures: A new direction for commodity research

This paper introduces new regulatory data that provides unprecedented visibility into swaps positions of dealers and their counterparties. Our analysis suggests that, contrary to common perception, commercial end-users have a larger footprint in the WTI crude oil swaps space than financial end-users do. Commercial end-users' swaps exposure is larger than their futures exposure, and they are net short in both markets. Financial end-users are smaller in swaps than in futures and are net long in both. Dealers perform a substantial amount of intermediation among market participants. We conclude that joint examination of swaps and futures data facilitates many new directions for commodity research.