Markets
Crypto Market Selloff Was Driven by Retail Investors, Says JPMorgan (JPM)
Wall Street giant JPMorgan (JPM) said it is maintaining its cautious stance on cryptocurrency markets in the near term due to a lack of positive catalysts and because retail momentum is fading.
The bank notes that retail investors sold crypto and equity assets in April and spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw outflows. O three contrary winds the bank has already identified – high positioning, high bitcoin prices versus gold and versus the estimated cost of producing bitcoin, and moderate crypto venture capital (VC) funding – are also still in place.
Cryptocurrency markets have recorded significant profits in recent weeks, with retail investors playing a larger role in the sell-off than institutional investors, the report said. Bitcoin fell 16% in April, the biggest monthly drop since June 2022.
Investors sold US-based spot bitcoin ETFs in the fastest pace ever on Wednesday. The 11 ETFs recorded a cumulative net outflow of $563.7 million, the largest since the funds began trading on Jan. 11.
As far as institutional investors are concerned, “it has primarily been momentum traders, such as commodity trading advisors (CTAs) or other quantitative funds, who have taken profit on previous extreme long positions in bitcoin and gold,” wrote analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou .
Still, futures market analysis suggests a “more limited reduction in positioning by other institutional investors outside of quantitative funds and CTAs,” the authors wrote.