Vetle Lunde, senior analyst at K33, posted on the X platform that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) bitcoin futures unpositioned squaring contract (OI) reached a record 172,430 bitcoins yesterday, setting a new all-time high. The current institutional preference indicates that they are increasing their long positions. Futures premiums also climbed to a five-month high as unpositioned squaring contracts surged, an increase driven mainly by active market participants rather than inflows into futures-based ETFs. Unpositioned squaring contracts added 19,120 bitcoins in the past three days, the largest three-day increase since June 2023, with market activity focused on contracts expiring in November.