Leveraged funds add 1,669 BTC to Bitcoin futures net short

Leveraged funds raised their combined net short in regulated Bitcoin futures by 1,669 BTC in the week to Sept. 8, CFTC futures-only data show. The increase was recorded before the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 15–16 meeting.

The BTC-normalized net short expanded to about 39,876 BTC from 38,208 a week earlier. The calculation covers four regulated contracts: CME’s standard and micro Bitcoin futures and Coinbase Derivatives’ nano and nano perpetual-style contracts, with each contract’s stated Bitcoin multiplier applied. The report measures futures exposure only.

Most of the weekly change came from CME’s five-BTC contract. In that market, leveraged funds added 888 short contracts and 616 long contracts, widening the net short by 272 contracts, roughly 1,360 BTC, which represented about 81.5% of the combined weekly change.

Across all four contracts, gross short exposure increased by 4,965 BTC while gross long exposure rose by 3,296 BTC. Both short and long holdings grew during the reporting week.

The CFTC classifies leveraged funds by predominant activity; the category typically includes hedge funds, commodity trading advisers and commodity pool operators. Public CFTC totals report aggregate positions but do not link futures positions to offsetting trades in other instruments.

CFTC weekly reports use the preceding Tuesday’s positions and publish on Friday. The Sept. 8 snapshot was taken nine days before the Fed decision and released four days before the FOMC meeting began. Bitcoin traded near $77,300 on Sept. 12.

Because public CFTC totals do not connect positions to offsetting legs, the data do not establish whether the added net short represented standalone directional bets or hedges for other holdings.