WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The latest data of Bitcoin futures show that speculative activities over the iconic cryptocurrency have weakened, according to a report from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
For the week ending Sept. 24, non-commercial investors, commonly treated as market speculators, held a net short position of 1,068 Bitcoin future contracts. Meanwhile, the total amount of future contracts held by speculators decreased.
Besides, commercial traders, commonly treated as hedgers, held a net short position of 26 contracts.
Speculators and hedgers are different types of investors. Speculators try to make a profit from the assets' price volatility, whereas hedgers attempt to reduce or "hedge" the amount of risk created by price volatility during the holding period of the assets.
When investors "short" some kind of financial assets like currencies, commodities, options or futures, they hold a bearish view on the asset and believe there will be a drop in the price.
This week, the price of the cryptocurrency dropped over 1,700 U.S. dollars to around 8,200 dollars, while its whole market value decreased to about 147 billion dollars, according to the trading website "Coinbase."
Bitcoin futures, traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the United States, are derivative financial contracts that obligate the parties to transact an underlying asset at a predetermined future date and price. The underlying asset of each Bitcoin future contract includes five Bitcoins.
