Bitcoin Speculators Edged Bearish Bets Lower
Zachary Storella | Mar 24, 2019 02:34AM ET
Bitcoin Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large cryptocurrency speculators reduced their bearish net positions in the Bitcoin futures markets this week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial futures contracts of Bitcoin futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -1,286 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, March 19th. This was a weekly rise of 45 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -1,331 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) decreasing by -172 contracts to a weekly total of 1,780 contracts but were more than offset by the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a decline by -217 contracts for the week to a total of 3,066 contracts.
The net speculative position has been ebbing and flowing, back and forth, week to week, with not much ground being gained either way. In fact, with open interest falling this week by 759 contracts (an 18% weekly decline), this market is currently at the lowest level of open interest since the first week of Bitcoin futures trading (in December 2017) and in a very sleepy place.
Bitcoin Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 0 contracts on the week. Bitcoin has not had any commercial positions for the past two weeks. This could be due to the fact that with very low interest at the moment, there are no entities with enough open positions to satisfy the CFTC requirements for large commercials.
Small Trader Positions:
The small traders' position, a mix of hedgers and speculators that don’t meet the requirement for large traders, fell for the second straight week to a total of 1,286 net contracts. This was a weekly decline of -45 contracts from the previous week.
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The small trader position has also not seen much movement with contracts hovering between +1,000 and +1,500 net positions over the recent weeks and months.
Bitcoin Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Bitcoin Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $3995 which was an increase of $150 from the previous close of $3845, according to unofficial market data.
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