Bitcoin futures speculators net long 2,756 contracts in CFTC report

The CFTC’s September 22 CME Bitcoin futures report, released September 25, lists noncommercial traders at 17,658 long and 14,902 short contracts, a net long of 2,756. That net position grew by 288 contracts from the previous week. Total open interest rose by 1,542 to 22,315 contracts.

Commercial net shorts also rose

Commercial traders held 66 long and 3,175 short contracts, a net short of 3,109. The prior week’s net short was 2,657 contracts, so the position grew by 452. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it had shrunk.

Each CME Bitcoin futures contract represents five BTC. The noncommercial net long is equivalent to 13,780 BTC in contract units; the commercial net short is equivalent to 15,545 BTC. These figures describe reported positions, not the reasons traders held them.

What the report can and cannot show

The CFTC classifies traders by their reported predominant business purpose. It does not know each trader’s reason for a position, so these totals alone do not prove that commercial traders were hedging a price decline or predict Bitcoin’s next move.

In the separate Traders in Financial Futures report, leveraged funds held 4,745 long and 12,698 short CME Bitcoin contracts on September 22, a net short of 7,953. The 6,354 net-short figure in the earlier article referred to September 15, not the latest report.