Institutions Tighten Grip on Crypto Market with Record Spot Flow Dominance
Institutional investors are dominating the crypto market, according to Wintermute's OTC report. Between January and June of this year, they accounted for 72% of spot flow on Wintermute's desk, up from 61% in the second half of last year and 59% in the first half.
This shift is changing how liquidity is distributed across crypto. Institutional investors are focusing on a smaller group of tokens, with the number of unique tokens traded by them increasing by just 24% between the first half of 2024 and the first half of this year. In contrast, retail traders have seen an increase of 76% in the same period.
The increased institutional participation has led to lower volatility. Bitcoin's realized volatility has dropped from near 70% in 2025 to about 45% now. This is a significant change from previous crypto winters, where price swings were more extreme and sudden.