JPMorgan Chase: Retail investors may be the main force driving the crypto market’s rise in February

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a research note on Thursday that it believes retail investors may have been the leading cause of strong gains in the cryptocurrency market in February. Analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said that three major cryptocurrency catalysts in the coming months, including the Bitcoin halving event, the Ethereum upgrade, and the SEC’s resolution on the Ethereum spot ETF application, are the reasons for retail FOMO. The first two catalyst events are largely priced in, while the third catalyst has only a 50% chance of occurring. This retail impulse can be seen in the accumulated Bitcoin flow on the chain, with smaller wallets having larger flows, which is a sign of high participation from retail investors. The report noted that retail-focused platforms such as Block (SQ), PayPal (PYPL), and Robinhood (HOOD) saw an increase in trading activity and investor traffic in the fourth quarter of 2023, with Coinbase (COIN) also seeing growth , all represent an increase in retail investor trading activity during the same period. (CoinDesk)