On April 9, it was reported that, during the past week, institutional investment in Bitcoin futures fell at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). This was according to data compiled by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

As of April 9, the number of long positions opened by both asset managers and institutional investors was 244. This represents a decline of more than 70% from the previous week. The number of short positions also declined, but not nearly as dramatically. The same types of investors opened 80 such positions, down from 89 the previous week. Spread positions were also down significantly. There were only 3 of these, down from 35 the previous week.

When looking at only institutional investors, long positions decreased by a more modest 30%, and short positions fell by a little more than 10%. Industry experts believe that this indicates that there is a somewhat bearish feeling toward the market among institutional investors.

While institutional investors have opened far more long positions than shorts ones, short ones far outnumber long ones among all investors. Currently, there are 4,177 open short positions on the CME and only 3,267 open long positions. The number of long positions this week among all investors increased by 366, while the number of short positions increased by 421.

During the previous week, institutional investors were very active in the Bitcoin futures market. They opened 315 long positions for the week that ended April 2, which was a nearly 90% increase. Though short positions during this week fell sharply, from 241 contracts to 89 contracts, which represents a decrease of 63%.

On April 4, the CME reported that they had witnessed record trading volumes on the Bitcoin futures market. This corresponded with a dramatic increase in the price of Bitcoin itself. Speaking of which, Bitcoin is right now trading at about $5,100, which is unchanged for both the day and the week.

Thomas Lee, who is the co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors and a noted Wall Street strategist, indicated last week that his Bitcoin Misery Index had hit its highest number in nearly 3 years. He believes that this sends mixed messages about the market.