CME lists two bitcoin futures. The standard contract is five bitcoin, sized for institutions. The micro is one tenth of a bitcoin, sized for everyone else. Because the CFTC reports them separately and on identical definitions, the pair make a natural experiment in who is doing what.
What the data shows
- Micro bitcoin open interest is 31,572 contracts, +17% on the year.
- Full-size open interest is 20,019 contracts, −10% on the year.
- Asset managers are net −2,107 contracts in the micro, having started the year net +1,773.
- Non-reportable participants, the ones below the CFTC threshold, are net +2,580 contracts in the micro.
Two contracts, same asset, opposite direction
| Category | Micro bitcoin, net | Full-size bitcoin, net |
|---|---|---|
| Asset managers | −2,107 | +2,299 |
| Leveraged funds | +6,527 | −6,873 |
| Dealers | −8,082 | +4,080 |
| Other reportables | +1,082 | +836 |
| Non-reportable | +2,580 | −342 |
Asset managers’ net position in CME micro bitcoin futures
Net long minus short, in contracts, weekly. One contract is one tenth of a bitcoin.
Source: CFTC Commitments of Traders, Traders in Financial Futures, futures only. Prices are Coinbase daily closes. Computed by Institutional Asset Journal.
Reading the split
The micro contract exists to let small accounts take a position that the full-size contract prices out of reach. So a rising micro open interest alongside a flat or falling full-size open interest has a straightforward interpretation: participation is broadening downward while institutional participation is not growing.
The category detail supports that reading. Non-reportable participants are net +2,580 contracts. That line aggregates every account below the reporting threshold, which in the micro contract is most of the market by headcount. When the non-reportable line is long and the asset manager line is short, the two ends of the market are on opposite sides.
Broadening participation and deepening institutional participation look identical in a volume chart and opposite in this report.
Institutional Asset Journal
A caution about the micro
Category assignment in the micro contract is noisier than in the full-size one. Positions are smaller, so fewer participants clear the reporting threshold and the composition of the reportable population changes more from week to week. A single large account crossing the threshold can move a category line materially.
The direction of travel over months is more reliable than any single week, and over this year the direction has been consistent. The micro contract is growing. The institutions are not the ones growing it.
How this was measured
- Figures are taken from the CFTC’s Commitments of Traders release, Traders in Financial Futures, futures only. That report covers positions held at the close on a Tuesday and is published the following Friday at 15:30 Eastern, so every reading here is three days old on the day it appears. Net positions exclude spread holdings, which the CFTC reports separately. Notional values apply the CME contract multiplier and the Coinbase daily close on the report date. The series is rebuilt from source each week; the CFTC restates prior weeks on occasion and restatements are carried through rather than footnoted.
