Tudor Investment reverses bitcoin ETF selldown, raises IBIT stake 18.9% in Q2

Tudor Investment, the family office of legendary macro trader Paul Tudor Jones, increased its direct stake in BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF (IBIT) by 18.9% to 688,529 shares in Q2 2026, according to SEC filings reported by CoinDesk. The 109,446-share addition marked the fund's first quarterly increase in 12 months, ending a string of cuts that reduced holdings from a peak of 8.05 million shares in late 2024.

As of June 30, the Q2 stake was valued at $22.9 million. The current holdings are worth approximately $24.5 million, reflecting bitcoin's price movement in the intervening weeks. Despite the Q2 increase, the position remains 91.4% below the 8.05 million-share peak reached at year-end 2024, when the stake was valued at $427 million, per CoinDesk's analysis of the filings.

Tudor first disclosed a bitcoin ETF position in mid-2024 with 869,565 shares and steadily built it through the second half of that year. Beginning in the first quarter of 2025, the fund reduced its IBIT exposure in every quarter. In Q2 and Q3 of 2025, bitcoin rallied to an all-time high of $124,000, yet Tudor continued trimming the position. By December 2025, the stake had fallen to 576,523 shares.

Tudor Jones disclosed his inflation hedge rationale in 2024, stating that all roads lead to inflation. In April 2026, he called bitcoin the best inflation hedge, citing its fixed supply as an advantage over gold. The IBIT stake now represents roughly 0.03% of Tudor's $71.9 billion reported portfolio, indicating minimal bitcoin exposure relative to total assets under management.

Tudor Investment also holds call and put options tied to IBIT shares. Call options covering 148,000 underlying shares dropped 85.2% from 998,000 in March, while put positions edged down 1.4% to 715,000 underlying shares from 725,000. CoinDesk notes that the filing does not disclose the options' strike prices or expiration dates, making it impossible to assess whether the reductions reflect hedging adjustments or directional view changes. The derivatives are likely serving as a hedging mechanism for the fund's bitcoin bets, per the reporting.