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JPMorgan Says Crypto-Native Investors Are Likely Driving the Market Slide
Limited bitcoin outflows and heavier ether selling pointed to crypto-native liquidations as the driver of the drop.
By Will Canny, AI Boost
Updated Oct 17, 2025, 2:11 p.m. Published Oct 17, 2025, 1:12 p.m.
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What to know:
- JPMorgan said crypto-native traders were likely behind the recent market correction.
- Bitcoin ETFs and CME futures saw minimal liquidations, while ether experienced heavier outflows and de-risking.
- A sharp 40% drop in perpetual futures open interest points to leveraged crypto-native positions being unwound, the report said.
The recent market sell-off 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 (ETH) both fell after October 10, spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) BTC futures saw little forced selling, the report noted.
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Bitcoin ETF outflows totaled just $220 million, or 0.14% of assets under management, compared to $370 million for ether ETFs, or 1.23%, analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in the Thursday report.
A similar pattern showed up in CME futures, with minimal bitcoin liquidations and heavier ether selling, 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%, outpacing the drop in spot prices, the report added.
JPMorgan said that the scale of unwinding points to crypto-native traders as the main driver of the downturn, with ether hit harder than bitcoin.
Read more: Bitcoin Network Hashrate Took Breather in First Two Weeks of October: JPMorgan
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
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