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Hedge funds cut Bitcoin exposure 39% in Q1 as banks more than doubled holdings

Hedge funds cut Bitcoin exposure 39% in Q1 as banks more than doubled holdings

Professional investors reduced Bitcoin ETF holdings by 52,000 BTC to 261,000 BTC, while banks added 7,800 BTC and hedge funds and brokerages drove most of the selling.

BTC

Fact Check
The primary CoinShares Bitcoin 13F Q1 2026 report directly confirms every quantitative claim: professional holdings fell 52k BTC (from 313k to 261k), hedge funds cut 31.4k BTC (-39%), banks added ~7.8k BTC (more than doubled, growing 4x YoY to 15.1k BTC), and hedge funds plus brokerages drove the majority (96%) of selling. Cointelegraph, news.bitcoin.com, and crypto.news independently corroborate the same figures sourced from CoinShares.
Summary

Professional investors cut their Bitcoin ETF exposure in the first quarter, with holdings falling from 313,000 BTC to 261,000 BTC, according to CoinShares’ review of quarterly 13F filings. The value of those positions dropped 35% to $17.8 billion. Hedge funds and brokerages accounted for about 96% of the selling, extending an earlier picture of hedge funds reducing Bitcoin exposure by 39% as leveraged basis trades were unwound. Banks moved in the opposite direction, more than doubling holdings by adding 7,800 BTC, highlighting a divergence in institutional positioning during the quarter.

Terms & Concepts
  • Bitcoin ETF exposure: Holdings in exchange-traded funds that track Bitcoin, used to measure investor positioning.
  • 13F filings: Quarterly U.S. regulatory filings that disclose certain investment managers’ equity holdings.
  • Basis trades: Strategies that seek to profit from the gap between spot and futures prices.