Bitcoin Speculators Raised Their Bearish Bets Into February
Zachary Storella | Feb 24, 2019 01:53AM ET
Bitcoin Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large cryptocurrency speculators increased their bearish net positions in the Bitcoin Futures markets in February, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
This latest COT data is from early February due to the government shutdown which suspended the releases for approximately a month. The CFTC is releasing data on Tuesdays and Fridays going forward until the data is back up to date.
The non-commercial futures contracts of Bitcoin futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -1,049 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, February 5th. This was a weekly change of -87 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -962 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) rising by 15 contracts to a weekly total of 1,591 contracts which was overtaken by the gross bearish position (shorts) which saw a gain by 102 contracts for the week to a total of 2,640 contracts.
The speculative net position had improved for three straight weeks before the shortfall on February 5th. Speculators have continued to have an overall bearish position in Bitcoin futures since the start of these contracts in December of 2017.
Bitcoin Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -110 contracts on the week. This was a weekly gain of 19 contracts from the total net of -129 contracts reported the previous week.
Commercial trader positions entered the market just recently in November and have been on the bearish side of this market.
Small Trader Positions:
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The small traders position, a mix of hedgers and speculators that don’t meet the requirement of the large traders, totaled a net position of 1,159 contracts on the week. This was a weekly gain of 68 contracts from the total net of 1,091 contracts reported the previous week.
Small traders started off on the bullish side of the market and have remained bullish in their overall positioning.
Bitcoin Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Bitcoin Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $3400 which was a gain of $30 from the previous close of $3370, according to unofficial market data.
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