Institutional Bitcoin Bid Rebuilds: UBS Lifts IBIT Call Exposure 24-Fold as Tudor Reverses Year of Selling
Quarterly 13F disclosures reveal a decisive shift in options positioning at two marquee allocators, with call skew replacing downside hedges even as Bitcoin's second-largest mining jurisdiction curbs capacity in its capital.
UBS disclosed a 24-fold increase in call options on BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust alongside a 12% rise in direct IBIT holdings to 407,890 shares and a 53% cut in put exposure to 143,300 underlying shares. Separately, Paul Tudor Jones' firm increased its IBIT stake after a year of net selling, though its call book fell 85.2% to 148,000 underlying shares against 715,000 in puts. The positioning divergence lands as energy authorities in the world's second-largest Bitcoin mining jurisdiction impose year-round restrictions on rigs in the capital city.