A full week has passed since the biggest liquidation in history of Bitcoin and altcoins.
Altcoins took the brunt of the blow, with Bitcoin plummeting to $102,000. Many altcoins experienced declines exceeding 50%, and numerous futures investors were liquidated.
While this collapse was triggered by US President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs on China, JPMorgan analysts explained the source of the decline.
JPMorgan analysts said the sharp decline was driven by individual investors who dominate the sector, rather than institutional or ETF investors, according to The Block.
In their latest report, a team of analysts led by JPMorgan managing director Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou noted that traditional market investors trading regulated products like spot Bitcoin ETFs or CME futures are not panicking.
The report noted that outflows from Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs were limited compared to the overall market, and there were no significant liquidations in the CME Bitcoin futures market.
In contrast, perpetual futures, often favored by institutional investors, saw a sharp decline in leverage. Analysts noted that open interest in Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual contracts fell by approximately 40% in dollar terms, a decline that exceeded the price declines for both assets.
“Between October 10-14, spot BTC and ETH ETF net outflows remained minimal at 0.14% and 1.23% of their assets under management, respectively.
Similarly, CME BTC and ETH futures also saw minimal liquidations.
In contrast, open interest (OI) in BTC and ETH perpetual futures contracts fell by 40% over the same period, far exceeding the price declines of these assets.
This suggests that large-scale liquidations by retail investors were the direct cause of the decline.”
*This is not investment advice.