Market speculators hold net short positon of bitcoin futures

Source: Xinhua| 2019-10-19 09:53:14|Editor: xuxin
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Market speculators held net short position of Bitcoin futures this week, according to a report from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

Non-commercial investors, commonly treated as market speculators, held a net short position of 866 Bitcoin future contracts for the week ending Oct. 15.

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 price.

The price of the cryptocurrency dropped to about 8,000 U.S. dollars from about 8,300 dollars a week ago, while its whole market value dropped to around 143 billion dollars, according to trading website "Coinbase".

The 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.

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