Did Market Manipulation Cause Bitcoin To Crash?
By Alex Carchidi – Mar 4, 2026 at 5:15AM EST
Key Points
-
Bitcoin’s recent underperformance has a new scapegoat.
-
The market manipulation being alleged is not necessarily supported by the data.
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Bitcoin’s future still looks quite bright.
The case against the scapegoat
The core allegation proposed on social media is that Jane Street, acting as a holder and trader of the is Bitcoin Trust (IBIT 1.26%) and other spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has been intentionally dumping its holdings at the U.S. market open around 10 a.m. each day, thereby depressing Bitcoin prices and triggering forced liquidations of leveraged crypto traders.
Proponents of the narrative typically suggest that the purpose of this action is to then buy the coin at a lower price level than what would otherwise be possible, setting the company up for a profit the next day when the process supposedly repeats. Similarly, Jane Street is hypothesized to have had some kind of role in the Oct. 10 crypto flash crash, which is still a sore subject among many crypto investors.
You can probably already tell that there are a few holes in this story, but some circumstantial details still make the theory tempting to endorse.
Expand
CRYPTO: BTC
Bitcoin
Today’s Change
(7.47%) $4967.31
Current Price
$71472.00
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$1.4T
Day’s Range
$66337.00 – $71806.00
52wk Range
$60255.56 – $126079.89
Volume
65B
Jane Street disclosed having about $790 million in Bitcoin Trust s in its Q4 2025 filing, adding roughly $276 million during the quarter, so it ly has just enough financial heft to slightly affect Bitcoin’s price from time to time. It’s also true that Jane Street was sued on Feb. 23 in federal court in Manhattan for alleged insider trading before and during the dramatic collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin in 2022. And India’s securities regulator banned it from local markets in 2025 over alleged index manipulation.
But investment firms Jane Street make their revenue by trading, which includes selling certain assets whenever they see fit, and that isn’t the same as intentional market manipulation. Furthermore, long-term Bitcoin holders sold an estimated 143,000 Bitcoins during the 30-day period ended March 1, pushing the price down, and at the same time, ETF redemptions frequently exerted far more selling pressure than any single company could.
In short, the theory probably isn’t something to pay much attention to. The Jane Street narrative is mostly a distraction, and until proven otherwise, it’s probably not guilty of what it’s being accused of.
Expand
NASDAQ: IBIT
is Bitcoin Trust
Today’s Change
(-1.26%) $-0.49
Current Price
$38.70
Key Data Points
Day’s Range
$37.50 – $39.14
52wk Range
$35.30 – $71.82
Volume
4.7M
You usually don’t need to care who’s selling or why
So what should investors do with this information? First, take it as a lesson about the importance of not getting shaken out of your investments.
Even granting the worst-case version of the allegation, there’s no way for a market manipulator to alter Bitcoin’s protocol or damage its core investment thesis. The supply cap of 21 million coins persists, and about 95% of its possible supply has been mined and is in circulation. The next halving in 2028 will make it even scarcer than before, as less Bitcoin will be mined per block, with even less issued with each successive halving roughly every four years. These mechanics are immutable regardless of what any trading business does with its ETF s, and over the long run, they’re major drivers for the asset’s price rising because they make it much easier for a broad swath of investors to buy and hold the s in their investment portfolios.
The current decline, frustrating as it may be, is also fairly common in Bitcoin’s history. Past bear markets for the coin brought 70% to 85% declines relative to the all-time highs before recoveries started.
So being patient and buying the dip are better strategies than panic selling or pinning blame on a single trading firm that probably lacks the heft to spin the Bitcoin market. There’s simply nothing going on here that would lead someone with a long-term perspective to dump their Bitcoin.
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About the Author
Alex Carchidi is a contributing Motley Fool healthcare and cryptocurrency analyst covering biotech, pharma, cannabis, and digital asset companies. Previously, Alex was a bench scientist and science writer at several biopharma companies and began his career as a researcher at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Boston University and a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Stocks Mentioned
Bitcoin
CRYPTO: BTC
$71,472.00
(+7.47%)+$4,967.31
is Bitcoin Trust
NASDAQ: IBIT
$38.70
(-1.26%)-$0.50
*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.
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