These six measures ask one question: how crowded are the main bets in the market?

The scale. Each measure is ranked against its own history (5 years for futures and put/call, since 1998 for margin debt). A percentile of 83 means today's reading is higher than 83% of past readings. The middle half (solid grey) is normal. The striped amber ends are the rarest 10% each way.

Why crowding matters. A crowded bet is fragile: if everyone is already long, there's little fresh buying left and a lot of potential selling. That's why extremes are read contrarian: heavy fear has often come near bottoms, heavy greed near tops.

What it isn't. Not a timing signal (not backtested), and never part of the 3-of-6 gate.

Sources. CFTC Commitments of Traders (weekly; Tuesday positions released Friday), CBOE put/call (daily), FINRA margin statistics (monthly, ~3–4 week lag).