Institutions accounted for roughly 72% of spot trading volume on Wintermute's over-the-counter (OTC) desk during the first half of 2026, the highest share on record, according to the firm's latest market report.
The figure marks a sharp increase from about 61% in the second half of last year. "As crypto works through a bear market, with retail largely absent and preoccupied with equities, the structure underneath is easier to see," the report said. "The asset class is maturing, whatever recent price action suggests."
Rather than chasing short-term price swings, institutional investors tend to operate under defined mandates and risk limits, holding positions over longer periods. The report said this has produced a market with lower volatility and liquidity concentrated in a smaller group of assets. Realized volatility has fallen from roughly 70% in earlier market cycles to around 45% in the current one, according to Wintermute's analysis.
The report also found that institutional investors trade a relatively narrow universe of tokens, while retail investors continue to spread activity across a much larger number of assets. "The result is a market where the flow that increasingly sets direction is concentrated in fewer names, traded more selectively," the report said, adding that broad-based rallies across most alternative cryptocurrencies are becoming less likely as institutional capital focuses on a handful of assets.
