Bitcoin Speculators boosted their cryptocurrency bearish bets to 10-week high

December 22nd – By CountingPips.com – Receive our weekly COT Reports by Email

Bitcoin Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:

Large cryptocurrency speculators raised 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 -1,342 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday December 18th. This was a weekly change of -429 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of -913 net contracts.

This week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position decreasing by -127 contracts to a weekly total of 2,100 contracts combined with the gross bearish position which saw a gain by 302 contracts for the week to a total of 3,442 contracts.

The speculative bearish position rose for the first time in four weeks and shot up to the highest bearish level in the past ten weeks.

Small Traders Positions:

The small traders, meanwhile, boosted their existing bullish bets by 404 contracts this week to a total of 1,581 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 1,177 net contracts.

The small trader standing is now at the best level since August 7th when the small trader net position reached 1,611 contracts.

Bitcoin Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -239 contracts on the week. This was a weekly change of 25 contracts from the total net of -264 contracts reported the previous week.

Commercial trader positions were just recently included in the data on November 27th and represent businesses using this market for hedging activities.

Bitcoin Futures:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Bitcoin Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $3495 which was an advance of $175 from the previous close of $3320, 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