Leveraged funds reduced their extreme bearish bet on Bitcoin as of Tuesday, September 15, 2026. According to the latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) report, these speculative traders were net short by -6,354 contracts in the Bitcoin COT, a change of +1,538 contracts week-over-week that signals a partial unwind of the record positioning established late last month. Open interest across all trader categories also fell slightly by 310 contracts. This data, part of the weekly CFTC Traders in Financial Futures report, is stored and served in XOOMAR’s COT Positioning hub.
XOOMAR Pulse Intelligence
CFTC Commitment of Traders (COT) Positioning
The Latest Print
The new CFTC data for Tuesday, September 15, 2026 shows a notable shift. Leveraged funds were less short by 1,538 contracts compared to the prior week. Their net positioning stood at -6,354 contracts. This move coincided with a modest contraction in total market exposure, as aggregate open interest dipped to 20,773 contracts from 21,083. The aggregate book remains heavily divided. On the opposite side, asset managers held a net-long position of +2,760 contracts in the latest Bitcoin COT report, maintaining their typical counterweight role.
| Report date | Open interest | Lev fund long | Lev fund short | Lev fund net | Asset manager net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-08 | 21,083 | 5,146 | 13,038 | -7,892 contracts | +3,743 contracts |
| 2026-09-15 | 20,773 | 5,545 | 11,899 | -6,354 contracts | +2,760 contracts |
| CFTC Traders in Financial Futures. Leveraged-fund net is long minus short. |
A 12-Week Snapshot of Short Positioning
The latest pullback follows a sprint toward peak pessimism. This 12-week window reveals three distinct regimes for leveraged funds. The first significant leg down began in late July, with funds pushing their net short to -7,949 contracts by July 21. That marked the start of a concentrated shorting phase. The trend culminated on Tuesday, August 25, when leveraged funds hit their most net-short in this stored period at -8,089 contracts.
After hitting that depth, the group didn't flood back in. They stayed put near the extremes of that summer's run. The weeks that followed saw the net position hover at -7,620 and -7,892 contracts, before this week's reduction to -6,354. That's a step back from the edge, but no reversal. The least net-short week in the entire window was -6,130 contracts set back on June 23, a reading that now looks like the beginning of the bearish move, not its end.
The Leveraged Funds' Retreat
The mechanics of the week’s change are clear in the underlying long and short positions. Leveraged funds didn't just add longs, they aggressively covered shorts. Their short contracts fell by 1,139 week-over-week, from 13,038 to 11,899. That was partially offset by a 399-contract increase in long positions. The net result is a +1,538 contract shift toward a less-short stance.
It's a meaningful single-week reduction, though the group remains firmly in net-short territory. Their willingness to close shorts suggests the momentum behind the heavy bearish bet that peaked in late August has stalled, at least for now. This unwind didn't come out of nowhere. The group was already trimming its deepest short slightly last week, as their net improved from -7,620 to -7,892 contracts by September 8. This latest move is a bigger step in the same, less-bearish direction.
The Counterweight: Asset Managers
While leveraged funds were net short -6,354 contracts, asset managers held a net-long position of +2,760 contracts. This opposing positioning is typical in the Bitcoin COT data. Asset managers, often seen as proxies for institutional or longer-term capital, frequently take the other side of leveraged funds' speculative shorts.
Their net long decreased by 983 contracts from the prior week's +3,743. The stored data doesn't reveal whether this decrease is a tactical pullback or simply a function of reduced overall open interest. It's a notable shift from their positioning just two weeks prior when they held a net long of +3,698 contracts on September 1. The persistent divide between these two key categories shows a market where fundamental and speculative views are deeply at odds. Sometimes that split widens, sometimes it narrows, but it's always there.
Open Interest Sees Slight Pullback
The total open interest for Bitcoin futures in this CFTC category fell by 310 contracts to 20,773. It's a small move, representing a drop of about 1.5%. It likely reflects a combination of leveraged fund short covering and a net reduction in asset manager longs.
Open interest has been volatile over the 12-week window, reaching a high of 22,216 on August 25. The current level is roughly in the middle of that range. The small contraction suggests the week’s activity was more about repositioning within the existing market than a major influx or exodus of new capital. It's a technical unwind, not a sentiment shift large enough to rebuild the market entirely.
Ether's Parallel Market
A separate CFTC report for cash-settled Ether futures shows a different story unfolding in a related tape. In that market, leveraged funds were net short -7,722 contracts as of the same September 15 date. That's a deeper net short than the Bitcoin COT position, and it actually increased slightly week-over-week.
The caution here is critical: this is a separate contract and a separate tape. You cannot claim the Bitcoin positioning caused this Ether positioning. It does, however, show a persistent bearish sentiment among speculative traders across major crypto derivatives markets as of that Tuesday. In fact, in the Ether tape, the leveraged fund net short deepened from -7,286 to -7,722 contracts, even as open interest jumped by nearly 1,850 contracts. Those traders doubled down on another bet entirely, showing the mood isn't uniform.
| Report date | Open interest | Lev fund net |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-08 | 26,564 | -7,286 contracts |
| 2026-09-15 | 28,413 | -7,722 contracts |
| Related CFTC tape. Not caused by the Bitcoin print. |
How XOOMAR Counts These Contracts
The data here is sourced from the CFTC Traders in Financial Futures report as stored in XOOMAR COT. The numbers represent contract counts, not dollar values or coin amounts. A negative leveraged-fund net means that group is net short. The net figures are calculated as long contracts minus short contracts for each category. The report date corresponds to the CFTC's weekly as-of Tuesday.
This methodology provides a clear, standardized view of how different trader groups are positioned in the regulated futures market. The story is in the math. Whether those shorts are hedges or purely directional bets is unknown, but the scale and direction aren't up for debate.
What the COT Tape Shows Next
The next CFTC report for the week following September 15 isn't in this stored window. The tape will reveal if leveraged funds continued to cover their shorts or doubled down again. For programmatic access to this data, developers can use the XOOMAR COT API.
Primary Sources & Disclosures
Disclaimer: Content on XOOMAR is produced using AI-assisted research, drafting, and verification workflows and is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax, medical, or professional advice of any kind. All analysis reflects available information at the time of publication and may not be current. Verify information independently and consult qualified professionals before making decisions. Editorial policy
Written by
XOOMAR
Data desk
XOOMAR is a capital markets software and data company in Selden, New York. Every brief on this site starts from a dataset the company collects itself from primary sources (CFTC, SEC EDGAR, FINRA, the Federal Reserve, exchange APIs) and names the numbers it is built on, with a link to the data page so you can check them. Briefs are reviewed before they go out and corrected in place when the data is revised.
