UBS Group's latest regulatory filing shows shares underlying its IBIT call options jumped to 1.95 million at the end of Q2, more than 24 times the March level. Its put position moved the other way, falling 52.75%, while its regular IBIT share holdings rose a modest 11.94%. The filing does not say who benefits from the positions or why UBS holds them.
UBS Group's Aug. 13 regulatory filing showed that shares underlying its reported call options on BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) climbed to 1.95 million during the second quarter, while its reported non-option share position increased 11.94%. The Form 13F filing, accepted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 13, covered positions reported as of June 30.
Call line jumps more than 24-fold
UBS had reported calls covering 80,000 underlying shares at March 31, then 1.95 million at June 30, an increase of 1.87 million underlying-share equivalents. That works out to a 2,337.5% jump, leaving the quarter-end amount at more than 24 times its March level. By contrast, shares underlying reported IBIT puts declined from 303,300 at March 31 to 143,300 at June 30, a 52.75% decrease.
Across five non-option IBIT rows, UBS listed 407,890 shares, up from 364,371 across comparable rows at March 31, an increase of 43,519 shares. That non-option growth was far smaller than the swing in the call line. Form 13F presents option quantities as the shares underlying the contracts, and these figures are distinct from the non-option share rows; the form does not report exercise status.
What the filing does not say
The second-quarter table assigned $64.9 million of underlying market value to the call row and $4.8 million to the put row, compared with $13.6 million across the five non-option share rows. Under the SEC's Form 13F instructions, options are reported using the underlying security's share amount and quarter-end value; the form does not report the premium, strike, expiry, or profit and loss. So the $64.9 million call figure describes underlying market value rather than the amount UBS paid for the options or a delta-adjusted measure of economic exposure.
Even so, the disclosure leaves the account beneficiaries and purpose of the positions unresolved. SEC guidance says Form 13F covers securities under an institutional manager's investment discretion and can aggregate positions across related managers and account types. Any selection among client mandates, hedging, market making or directional trading would be speculative, and the same limitation applies to classifying the positions as part of UBS's corporate treasury.
The positions were dated June 30, more than six weeks before the filing became public, so any subsequent changes fall outside the disclosure — whoever holds the calls now, and why, stays outside what Form 13F requires UBS to say.
Source: CryptoSlate
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