Jane Street manipulated the price of Bitcoin, is it the mastermind behind it?
The answer seems simple and clear, but it is extremely controversial: an experienced trading company is not only hoarding IBIT, but also shorting Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related assets at a fixed time every morning to create a better entry price. Jane Street's strategy is a mature response to risks and opportunities.It manipulates ETFs to drive down the price of Bitcoin, thereby creating favorable buying opportunities.At the same time, accumulating Strategy shares provides leveraged participation in Bitcoin’s long-term trend.In other words, Jane Street profits whether the market rises or falls, both by capturing liquidity and arbitrage opportunities and by hedging its broader exposure. However, senior people who are deeply involved in market structure also bluntly expressed their rebuttal: everyone is using the stocks of market makers as directional bets. Louis LaValle, CEO and co-founder of Frontier Investments, believes that Jane Street is the main market maker and authorized participant of IBI.They are not "holding" IBIT as a bet and said Jane Street's increase in holdings in the fourth quarter may have been for operational purposes rather than a directional adjustment. Professor Nik Bhatia puts it all down to incentives: Jane Street holds IBIT so that it can trade options, arbitrage, and all the other things quant trading firms do to make money fast.