Thread by @HASHCIB

1/Given the recent news around #tether and #bitfinex, we wondered whether the more professional BTC investors would become more cautious - presumably inclined to take the @NewYorkStateAG action as no ordinary #FUD the retail crypto is so used to brushing off. Not really, it seems

2/In the wake of #Fidelity or #TDAmeritrade offering trading and storing of bitcoin, #CME futures is still the biggest market for US institutions to get exposure to #bitcoin price action.Commitment of Traders reports by #CFTC reflect trader positions by end of business on Tuesday

3/Reports come out every Friday to avoid market abuse. @krugermacro suggested using them as a proxy for institutional adoption, which was also referenced in the influential recent report by @tuurdemeester and @MLescrauwaet. We've also been tracking COT positions. Take a look

4/Taken from CFTC's Explanatory Notes. "Asset Manager/Institutional. These are institutional investors, including pension funds, endowments, insurance companies, mutual funds and those portfolio/investment managers whose clients are predominantly institutional"

5/"Leveraged Funds. These are typically hedge funds and various types of money managers, including registered commodity trading advisors (CTAs); registered commodity pool operators (CPOs) or unregistered funds identified by CFTC"

6/"Other Reportables...This category includes corporate treasuries, central banks, smaller banks, mortgage originators, credit unions and any other reportable traders not assigned to the other three categories"

7/The "Non Reportable" category isn't defined in the CFTC notes. We assume those to be smaller funds and investors with enough cash to cover CME's 37% margin with a minimum contract size of 5 BTC, i.e. entering a minimum position of roughly $10k at current prices. Not retail

8/"Dealers...Typically described as the “sell side” of the market...Futures contracts are part of the pricing and balancing of risk associated with the products they sell...These include large banks (U.S. and non-U.S.) and dealers in securities, swaps and other derivatives"-CFTC

9/While overall open interest has slightly fallen,the BTC outlook by different categories is stable.The biggest US #BTC market for institutional investors isn't fazed by the legal woes of the company behind its largest trading pair by volume. Next checkpoint - 3:30 PM,this Friday

10/Last week Institutional Investors went all in on #bitcoin - no short positions taken.Other #CME traders maintained their earlier outlooks.While insignificant in #BTC terms,COT of AMs is a good gauge of the sentiment.Let’s see on Friday if they FOMO even harder today

11/Also check @lawmaster's great take on GBTC: theblockcrypto.com/2019/05/13/ins…