Odaily Planet Daily reports: CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju posted on X to correct a previous analysis of CME Bitcoin futures positioning. He said that earlier, “Total Reportables (large institutional traders)” was mistakenly labeled as “Leveraged Funds,” leading to the conclusion that CME hedge funds rarely flipped to net long in BTC futures. However, the actual situation is that leveraged funds still maintain net short positions in BTC futures.

Ki Young Ju provides CFTC data on futures positioning as of August 4:

1. Large institutional traders are in a slight net long position overall. This category includes asset management firms, market makers, brokers, and others. Ki Young Ju says that although the net long amount is limited, the earlier assessment that institutions were leaning toward a net long direction still holds true.

2. Leveraged funds still maintain a net short position in BTC futures, but over the past year their standard BTC futures net short size has decreased by about 50% (in BTC terms). The main reason is that returns from basis trading have fallen; when futures basis returns become lower than U.S. Treasury yields, the arbitrage space narrows. Leveraged funds are currently net long on Micro BTC futures, but the scale is small—only about +394 BTC, which is roughly 1% of the size of the standard BTC futures net short position.

Ki Young Ju stated that leveraged funds have not yet fully shifted to net long positions overall, but their long-term structural short positions are clearly weakening. This may reflect the unwinding of arbitrage trades and adjustments to directional positions.