CME Hedge Funds Flip to Net Long Bitcoin Futures, a Rare Shift, Says CryptoQuant CEO

BitcoinWorld CME Hedge Funds Flip to Net Long Bitcoin Futures, a Rare Shift, Says CryptoQuant CEO In a notable shift within institutional crypto markets, hedge funds trading Bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have moved to a net long position, according to Ki Young Ju, CEO of on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant.

The executive highlighted the development on X, noting that this positioning is rare for the asset class, which has historically seen these funds maintain net short exposure.

Why This Shift Matters For years, hedge funds have predominantly held net short positions in CME Bitcoin futures, a structural outcome of the popular basis trade.

In this strategy, funds simultaneously buy the underlying asset (or spot Bitcoin) and sell futures contracts to capture the price differential, known as the basis.