Jane Street bets $790 million on Bitcoin and questions the $171 million-a-day model.
The crypto market has recently been abuzz with news that Jane Street , a leading Wall Street quantitative trading fund, has significantly increased its Bitcoin holdings through an ETF, totaling approximately $790 million. Simultaneously, the trading community has been circulating theories about a recurring selling pattern causing Medium daily losses of $171 million. So, what is the truth behind this story?
Jane Street significantly increased its holdings of Bitcoin ETFs.
According to recently released data, Jane Street has increased its holdings in the iShares Bitcoin ETF, specifically the iShares Bitcoin Trust (ticker IBIT), by approximately 54%. The total holdings now exceed 20 million shares, equivalent to nearly $790 million.
This move makes Jane Street one of IBIT's largest shareholders. Notably, they don't directly hold BTC spot, but access it through an ETF structure – a common method used by traditional financial institutions to optimize liquidation, manage risk, and comply with regulations.
The increased prominence of a major market maker like Jane Street demonstrates the growing institutional involvement in the crypto ecosystem.
The "10 AM Dump" controversy and the $171 million figure.
Alongside this information, the crypto community began to notice a phenomenon: Bitcoin often tends to drop sharply around 10 AM US time – coinciding with the stock market opening time.
According to observations from several traders:
BTC may drop by around 2–3% in the first hour of trading.
The liquidation of leveraged positions resulted in Medium losses of approximately $171 million per day.
This phenomenon has occurred repeatedly in several consecutive sessions.
This gave rise to the hypothesis that a large institution was actively selling at fixed times to create downward pressure on prices, then using the volatility to trade in the opposite direction.
However, to date, there is no legal evidence or on-chain data to substantiate that Jane Street is behind this model.
Manipulation or normal market mechanisms?
It is important to understand a few key points:
Jane Street is a major market maker in the ETF ecosystem. Their activities include liquidation creation, hedging, and position balancing.
ETFs like IBIT operate on a creation/redemption mechanism, which is linked but does not mean they directly sell spot BTC on the market.
The 9:30–10:30 AM timeframe in the US is when global liquidation increases sharply, as the US stock market opens and institutional trading desks begin operating simultaneously.
These factors can create significant price fluctuations without necessarily being intentional manipulation.
Legal factors and history are controversial.
Jane Street was mentioned in debates related to stablecoin trading during the Terra ecosystem crisis in 2022. This led to further skepticism among some members of the community regarding their trading strategies.
However, having participated in trading during a period of high market volatility does not automatically mean one is currently engaging in Bitcoin manipulation.
Impact on traders and the market
This event offers several noteworthy points:
Institutional inflows into Bitcoin ETFs remain substantial.
Narratives on social media can amplify fear and create a sense of self-fulfillment.
Traders using leverage need to be especially cautious during the opening hours of the US market, when volatility is often high.
Most importantly, in an environment with deep involvement from large institutions, short-term volatility no longer reflects only retail sentiment but is also influenced by hedging strategies and complex financial product structures.
Jane Street's holding of nearly $790 million through Bitcoin ETFs signals the maturation of the crypto market in the eyes of traditional financial institutions.
The hypothesis about the $171 million daily selling pattern remains speculative. For professional traders, instead of focusing on conspiracy theories, it's more important to understand the money flow structure, ETF mechanisms, and risk management when the market enters a period of high volatility.
The article Jane Street Bets $790 Million on Bitcoin first appeared on CoinMoi .
