Rumors that the trading firm Jane Street from Wall Street would cause a Bitcoin 'dump' every day at 10:00 AM resurfaced on December 12 after BTC sharply declined intraday.
On social media, there was renewed speculation about institutional traders and ETF market makers. However, if you look more closely at the data, you see a more nuanced story.
What is the 'Jane Street 10 AM' narrative?
According to this theory, Bitcoin is often sold around 9:30–10:00 AM ET, when the American stock market opens. Jane Street is often mentioned because it is a large market maker and a recognized party for American spot Bitcoin ETFs.
The accusation is that these companies drive prices down to trigger liquidations, after which they can buy back profitably. However, no evidence has ever been provided by a regulator, exchange, or source to confirm such coordinated actions.
Bitcoin futures data shows no aggressive dumping
Bitcoin remained stable today around the opening of the American market, within a narrow range of $92,000–$93,000. There was no sudden or abnormal selling wave exactly at 10:00 AM ET.
The sharp decline only came later, around the middle of the American trading session. BTC dropped briefly below $90,000 before the price recovered. This indicates deferred pressure rather than an immediate reaction to the market opening.
Bitcoin futures open interest on major exchanges remained virtually stable. Total open interest changed little, indicating no significant increase in new short positions.
At CME, the main exchange for institutional trading, open interest decreased slightly. Such a pattern usually indicates risk limitation or hedging, not aggressive selling pressure.
If a large proprietary party were to cause a coordinated dump, it should be visible in a sharp rise or fall in open interest. However, that was not the case.
Liquidations explain the movement
Liquidation data provides a clearer picture. In the past 24 hours, total crypto liquidations exceeded $430 million, with long positions being particularly liquidated.
Bitcoin alone saw more than $68 million in liquidations, while the amount for Ethereum was even higher. This indicates a market-wide leverage reset, not a specific Bitcoin incident.
When prices drop below important levels, forced liquidations can accelerate the decline. This often causes sharp downward movements without a single dominant seller.
Interestingly, on December 11, $77 million flowed out of American spot Bitcoin ETFs, after two days of stable inflow. Today's price movement was largely reflected in this outflow.
The movement was spread across various exchanges, including Binance, CME, OKX, and Bybit. There was no evidence of selling pressure on just one exchange or one instrument.
This is important, as coordinated manipulation usually leaves clear traces. In this case, there was broad, market-wide participation, likely due to automatic risk management.
Why the Jane Street narrative keeps coming back
Bitcoin volatility often concentrates around U.S. market hours due to ETF trading, macro data, and institutional portfolio adjustments. This can make price movements appear to follow a fixed pattern.
Jane Street is an easy target for speculation as an ETF market maker. However, market making is all about hedging and inventory management, not about directing price movement.
Today's movement fits a familiar pattern for the crypto market: leverage builds up, the price drops, liquidations follow, and then new narratives emerge.
