London-based hedge fund giant Brevan Howard Capital Management has made significant changes to its Spot Bitcoin ETF position due to the sharp fall in Bitcoin (BTC) prices in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The company was the largest seller of shares in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) fund, reducing its holdings by 31.2 million units, according to a notice filed with U.S. regulators by February 17.
Brevan Howard’s IBIT position fell from 36.7 million shares to 5.5 million, a decline of about 86%, according to Bloomberg data. The fund’s spot position fell from about $2.4 billion to $275 million. The company declined to comment on the matter.
On the other hand, we recently saw an Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund significantly increase its position in the Bitcoin Spot ETF.
The company partially moved its Bitcoin position to the options market.
However, Brevan Howard has not completely exited the Bitcoin market. The company reduced its direct position in spot ETFs, but replaced a significant portion of it with derivatives.
The fund reportedly holds call options worth $400 million on about 8 million IBIT shares and put options worth $248 million on about 5 million shares.
This move shows that this position is being restructured rather than completely dismantled.
James Harris, CEO of digital asset management firm Tesseract, said the move does not signal a change in his view of Bitcoin. Harris noted that Brevan is likely holding the IBIT position as the long leg of his “cash-and-carry” strategy, adding that this strategy is becoming less attractive as the spread between futures and spot prices declines from double-digit levels in 2025 to the 3-4% range.
*This is not investment advice.
