A fresh round of market‑manipulation chatter is circling crypto X after a 13F filing showed Jane Street added 7,105,206 shares of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, in Q4 2025 — bringing its reported position to 20,315,780 shares. That disclosure has reignited a persistent rumor that a large trading desk runs a daily “10 AM” sell program to push BTC prices lower and buy back at cheaper levels. What people are saying - BullTheory framed the 13F as an “accumulation” story, noting the Q4 buy was roughly $276 million and that Jane Street now holds about $790 million in IBIT. The thread tied the filing to the long‑running claim that the same desk executes a patterned sell‑off around 10 AM ET. - Milk Road amplified those “persistent whispers,” describing an alleged routine: heavy sell volume hits BTC and related ETF shares around US market open, triggering panic and liquidations of leveraged longs in thin liquidity, then the same firms allegedly re‑enter at lower prices. They say the pattern became visible in November 2025 and has persisted into early 2026 — but stress the theory is unverified. Why skeptics push back Market‑structure veterans and former traders argue the viral framing misreads what a 13F shows and how market makers operate: - The 13F screenshot circulating includes an “options” indicator marked “Y.” That detail is important because it commonly signals a delta‑hedged or derivative‑offset position, not a directional bet on the underlying ETF. - Louis LaValle (Frontier Investments) explained the increase could be operational: as a lead market maker and Authorized Participant for IBI/IBIT, Jane Street may hold ETF shares to hedge options it writes and to handle creation/redemption flows — especially during periods of high volatility. Those inventory moves are about risk management, not accumulation of a speculative long. - Former hedge fund manager Michael Green and other ex‑traders made the same point: reported stock positions are often offset by undisclosed options and futures, so a large ETF holding doesn’t mean the firm is “long Bitcoin” in the traditional sense. - More blunt commentary from former prop trader Ryan Scott and writer Nik Bhatia emphasized incentives: firms like Jane Street use ETF inventory to facilitate arbitrage, options coverage, and fast quantitative strategies, not to quietly manipulate prices for a directional bet. Where things stand The market‑maker explanation aligns better with how authorized participants and liquidity providers typically manage ETF exposure, while the “10 AM slam” narrative remains an unverified community theory amplified on social platforms. At press time, Bitcoin was trading around $68,107. Bottom line: the 13F shows a sizable IBIT position increase by Jane Street, but industry experts caution against reading that filing as proof of a coordinated daily sell program — the “Y” options flag and standard market‑maker hedging behavior offer an alternative, non‑directional explanation. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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