The recent market selloff was likely led by retail and other crypto-focused investors rather than traditional institutions, according to Wall Street Bank JPMorgan (JPM).
While bitcoin and ether Both falling after October 10, Spot BTC Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFS) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) BTC futures saw little forced selling, the report noted.
Bitcoin ETF outflows reached only $220 million, or 0.14% of assets under management, compared to $370 million for the ether ETF, or 1.23%, analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in Thursday’s report.
A similar pattern showed up in CME futures, with less liquid bitcoins and heavier ether sellers, which the bank’s analysts attributed to momentum-driven traders reducing risk.
The steepest losses came in perpetual futures, where open interest in Bitcoin and ether contracts fell around 40%, outstripping the fall in spot prices, the report added.
JPMorgan cited the scale of non-performance points among native traders as the main driver of the fall, with ether hit harder than Bitcoin.
Read more: Bitcoin Network Hashrate took a breath in the first two weeks of October: JPMorgan
