Notice Bitcoin selling off at market open? Jane Street is taking the blame, but the data points elsewhere
Traders blamed Jane Street for alleged systematic Bitcoin selling at the US market open, but data suggests broader macro factors and ETF structure opacity are the real drivers.Summary
A recent narrative on social media suggested that Jane Street was systematically suppressing Bitcoin prices around the US market open (10 A.M.), which allegedly stopped after the firm became embroiled in a lawsuit related to the 2022 Terraform Labs collapse. While Jane Street is a major player in the Bitcoin ETF ecosystem, serving as an authorized participant, analysts like James Check and Julio Moreno reject the suppression thesis, pointing instead to long-term holder selling and a collapse in spot demand since late 2025.
The controversy highlights a structural issue: the opacity introduced by spot Bitcoin ETFs. Authorized participants like Jane Street have flexibility in sourcing and delivering underlying assets through in-kind creations, making it difficult to distinguish between genuine spot demand, market-making, and hedging activities. This lack of visibility into the 'plumbing' of the ETF infrastructure primes the market for misinterpretation, especially when liquidity is thin, as evidenced by negative gamma positioning in the options market.
Furthermore, the US market open is a known volatility window due to cross-asset repositioning. Data suggests the observed weakness tracked broader risk-asset repricing rather than a Bitcoin-specific operation. Ultimately, the Jane Street debate underscores that while Bitcoin's on-chain scarcity is transparent, the institutional integration via ETFs has created a black box that makes price discovery harder to interpret.
(Source：CryptoSlate)