Large speculators in CME Bitcoin futures held a net long position of 2,418 contracts for the week of October 20, 2026, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's latest Commitments of Traders report. The figure represents a slight pullback from the prior week's 2,534 contracts.

The report, released on October 23, also showed speculators reducing bets against most US Treasury futures, while the euro remained deep in net short territory.

What the Bitcoin numbers show

The CFTC, the US regulator of derivatives markets, publishes its Commitments of Traders (COT) data every Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET, with each release reflecting positions as of the preceding Tuesday. The dataset dates back to 1962 and is widely followed as a gauge of positioning across regulated US derivatives markets.

The 2,418-contract figure covers non-commercial speculators in CME Bitcoin futures and blends standard and micro contracts under the legacy reporting format. A standard CME Bitcoin contract represents 5 BTC, while a micro contract represents 0.1 BTC — a size introduced in 2021 to allow for smaller positions. CME launched its Bitcoin futures in December 2017, giving traders a regulated US venue for the asset.

For context, the week ending October 13 showed large speculators net long 2,534 contracts, with total open interest of 20,752 contracts. Open interest measures the total number of outstanding contracts that have not been closed out.

The more granular Traders in Financial Futures breakdown painted a split picture for the October 13 week. Leveraged funds, a category that typically includes hedge funds, were net short roughly 5,844 standard contracts. Asset managers and institutions, by contrast, were net long 3,642 contracts.

Treasuries, equities and the euro

The broader report showed a consistent theme in the bond market: speculators trimming short positions. A short futures position profits when the underlying price falls, and Treasury prices move inversely to yields.

• Speculators cut their net short in CBOT US 2-year Treasury futures by 54,796 contracts to 856,783.
• Net shorts in 5-year Treasury futures fell by 6,095 contracts to 1,074,109.
• Net shorts in 10-year Treasury futures dropped by 23,809 contracts to 964,293.
• Net shorts in CBOT US Treasury bond futures shrank by 58,019 contracts to 68,419.

The lone exception came at the long end of the curve, where speculators increased their net short in UltraBond Treasury futures by 53,564 contracts to 375,161.

In equities, fund speculators trimmed their S&P 500 CME net short by 42,221 contracts to 348,674, while equity fund managers cut their S&P 500 CME net long by 18,079 contracts to 894,464.

In currencies, the euro held a net short position of 134,524 contracts, meaning speculators held more short than long positions in the currency.

Why the positioning matters

The COT report carries an important limitation: it shows what traders hold, not why they hold it, and makes no attempt to forecast prices. A net long can reflect outright bullish conviction, but it can also be one leg of a hedged position, such as a basis trade in which a fund buys spot exposure and sells futures to capture the price gap between the two.

That caveat is particularly relevant to the Bitcoin data. The October 13 split, with leveraged funds net short and asset managers net long, is consistent with a market in which some participants are hedging rather than taking an outright directional view.

The next COT report is anticipated on October 30, 2026. Market watchers will be looking at whether Bitcoin open interest holds near the 20,752-contract level recorded for October 13, and whether speculators continue to edge back from their net long position or begin adding to it again.