Bitcoin Speculators edged their bearish net positions higher last week

November 26th, 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

Bitcoin Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large cryptocurrency speculators slightly edged their bearish net positions higher in the Bitcoin futures markets last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday due to the Thanksgiving day holiday.

The non-commercial futures contracts of Bitcoin futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -1,199 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday November 20th. This was a weekly change of -14 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -1,185 net contracts.

The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position tumbling by -111 contracts to a weekly total of 1,598 contracts compared to the gross bearish position total of 2,797 contracts which saw a lowering by -97 contracts for the week.The speculators have increased their bearish positions in three out of the past four weeks (although by small amounts).

Meanwhile, the small traders position, which is on the opposite side of this market from the speculators, edged their existing bullish positions slightly higher this week by an equally offsetting 14 contracts to a current bullish level of 1,199 net contracts.

Bitcoin Futures COT Data is Speculators vs Small Traders

The Bitcoin futures data is in its forty-ninth week since the start of the cryptocurrency futures data releases on December 19th 2017. The data includes trader classifications of only speculators and small traders and without any commercial traders (typically business hedgers or producers of a commodity).

Speculators have remained on the bearish side since the beginning of the bitcoin data releases while the small traders have continued to be on the bullish side of this cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Bitcoin Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $4240 which was a loss of $-2045 from the previous close of $6285, according to unofficial market data.

*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the most recent Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

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