Bitcoin Speculators slightly added to their bearish bets this week

November 3, 2018 – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

Bitcoin Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large cryptocurrency speculators edged their bearish net positions very slightly higher 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 -1,077 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday October 30th. This was a weekly lowering of -19 contracts from the previous week which had a total of -1,058 net contracts.

The speculative Bitcoin position had seen decreasing levels of bearishness in the previous two weeks before this week’s edge higher. Over the past few months, the speculator sentiment for Bitcoin futures has steadily trended toward lower bearish levels from approximately -1,500 contracts to close to the -1,000 contract levels of the past two weeks.

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 19 contracts to a current bullish level of 1,077 net contracts.

Bitcoin Futures COT Data is Speculators vs Small Traders

The Bitcoin futures data is in its forty-sixth 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 started off and 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 $6245 which was a decline of $-150 from the previous close of $6395, 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).

Article By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email