The Crypto market divides into two.
Institutional and retail investors are taking increasingly different paths where institutional players anchor in Bitcoin
and Ethereums ether ETH While retail investors pour into altcoins and memcoins, according to a mid -year report from Crypto Trading Firm Wintermute.
Analysis of over-the-counter spothouses, institutional trading volumes with the two largest tokens kept stable at 67%, probably supported by ETF flow and structured accumulation vehicles, the report said. Meanwhile, retail investors fell their BTC and ETH exposure from 46% to 37%, changing capital against newer, more speculative tokens.
“This divergence is not a temporary thing; it is drawn that we are experiencing a more mature, sophisticated and specialized crypto market,” said Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO and founder of Wintermute.
“Investors no longer hunt the same trend,” he added. “Institutions treat crypto as a macro asset while retailers continue to weigh on innovation.”
Generally traditional funding (Tradfi) Companies were the fastest growing cohort in OTC trading quantities and grew 32% year-over years. This growth was driven by legislative developments such as the US Genius Law and the EU’s current mica roll -out, which has given larger companies more confidence to participate, the report said.
Retail brokers also saw strong activity with a 21% increase in volume during the same period. Meanwhile, crypto-native companies called back down 5%.
OTC option volume ran 412% compared to the first half of 2024, when institutions embraced derivatives for hedging and dividend generation, noted the report. Meanwhile contracts for difference (CFDs) doubled in variation and offers access to less liquid tokens in a more capital -efficient way.
Wintermute said its own OTC desk so that spot trading amounts grow with more than twice as much pace in centralized exchanges, signaling a shift towards more discreet, large volume trade, which is favored by traditional funding.
The company noted that Memecoin activity has become more fragmented. While the total retail in Memecoins fell, the number of tokens traded by individual users and signaled an extension of the appetite for micro -assets in the long tail of the market.
With it’s older names like Dogecoin
and Shiba Inu lost reason for a growing list of niche -tookens like bonk, dogwifhat Wif and popcat, noted the report.
Looking forward to the second half of 2025, Wintermute Analysts said to keep an eye on Spot Dogecoin Etf archives with space with a final regulatory decision expected by October.
“The result could have a significant impact on the retail market and set a precedent for other alternative assets,” the report said.
