Leveraged funds cut 5,566 BTC; asset managers cut longs

A Commodity Futures Trading Commission futures-only report recorded a 5,566.5 BTC reduction in leveraged funds’ net bearish exposure between July 21 and July 28. The report captured positions as of July 28 and was published on July 31.

The same report showed asset managers’ combined directional net long fell by 2,204.3 BTC in the week. On the July 28 snapshot leveraged funds were 33,712.3 BTC net short while asset managers were 11,284.3 BTC net long. The CFTC assigns trader groups by the predominant business purpose reported on Form 40.

At the contract level, leveraged funds’ net improved by 1,076 standard-contract positions, equal to 5,380 BTC, and by 1,865 Micro Bitcoin contracts, equal to 186.5 BTC. Asset managers’ directional net fell by 428 standard contracts (2,140 BTC) and 643 micro contracts (64.3 BTC). The report measures directional net exposure as longs minus shorts, excludes spreading positions and does not identify whether a short was an outright bearish trade, a leg of a cash-and-carry, an expiry roll or a hedge.

CME Group’s July 30 bulletin listed standard Bitcoin futures settlement prices of $64,775 for July, $65,085 for August and $65,335 for September. The bulletin showed open-interest changes of July down 1,942 contracts, August up 1,838 and September up 507. Those figures were recorded two days after the CFTC snapshot.

Other market indicators for the week through July 28 included softer buying in perpetual-futures markets and weaker long funding rates. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds reported $526.5 million of outflows across four sessions through July 28, while a separate flow report recorded a $32.1 million inflow on July 29.

The CFTC futures-only snapshot covers directional nets in futures and cannot separate pure directional trades from basis trades, expiry rolls or hedges. The data describe changes in futures positions by trader class as of the July 28 snapshot and the related July 30 settlement and open-interest figures.