WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Market speculators still held net short position of Bitcoin futures for the week ending Feb. 18, according to a report from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

Non-commercial investors, commonly treated as market speculators, held a net short position of 1408 Bitcoin future contracts for the week ending Feb. 18, according to CFTC.

Speculators and hedgers are different types of investors. Speculators try to make a profit from the assets' price volatility, whereas hedgers attempt to reduce or "hedge" the amount of risk created by price volatility during the holding period of the assets.

When investors "short" some kind of financial assets like currencies, commodities, options or futures, they hold a bearish view on the asset and believe there will be a drop in the price.

This week, the price of the cryptocurrency moved down nearly 600 U.S. dollars to around 9,660 dollars per coin, pushing its whole market value down to about 176 billion dollars, according to trading website "Coinbase".

The Bitcoin futures, traded at Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the United States, are derivative financial contracts that obligate the parties to transact an underlying asset at a predetermined future date and price. The underlying asset of each Bitcoin future contract includes five Bitcoins.

The CFTC is an independent agency of the U.S. government. Established in 1974, it regulates futures and option markets, and posts weekly reports on the position of future contract holders to help the public understand market dynamics. Enditem

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