Institutional Investors Dominate Altcoin Market
The crypto market may be heading towards an altseason with fewer winners, according to Wintermute's OTC flow report for the first half of 2026.
Institutional investors have become increasingly dominant in the market, generating 72% of spot flow across all tokens on Wintermute's OTC desk, up from 61% in the second half of 2025 and 59% in the first half of last year.
This concentration of institutional activity has led to a narrowing of the market, with liquidity focusing on the assets favored by institutions while activity across the 'long tail' weakened.
The number of unique tokens traded by Wintermute's institutional counterparties grew by just 24% between the first half of 2024 and the first half of 2026, compared to 76% among retail clients.