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 fell after Oct. 10, spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) BTC futures saw little forced selling, the report noted.
Bitcoin ETF outflows amounted to 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 Thursday’s report.
A similar pattern emerged in CME futures, with minimal bitcoin liquidations and heavier ether sales, 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 about 40%, outstripping the drop in spot prices, the report added.
JPMorgan said the scale of liquidation points to crypto-native traders as the main driver of the downturn, with ether hit harder than bitcoin.
Read more: Bitcoin Network Hashrate Takes Breath in First Two Weeks of October: JPMorgan
