Jane Street increases bitcoin positions: nearly $1 billion in ETFs amid record losses
Wall Street's largest market maker, Jane Street, has disclosed a $990 million stake in a Bitcoin ETF. This follows from documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as of June 30. The bulk of the position is in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
The data emerged during the same period in which the company confirmed a July loss of $15 billion — its worst result in nearly a decade. However, one should not rush to conclusions: the 13F form, which reflects the position, only shows a snapshot as of a specific date — six weeks ago. It does not reveal the company's current assets.
It is important to understand the nature of these investments. Jane Street is not a classic hedge fund making a directional bet on an asset's rise or fall. The company operates as a market maker and authorized participant for several spot Bitcoin ETFs. For it, such moves are part of operational activity, not an expression of a market view.
In the first quarter of 2026, Jane Street reduced its stake in IBIT by 71%, while simultaneously increasing positions in Ethereum ETFs. Such reshuffling looks more like inventory management than conviction-based investing. The growth in positions may reflect client demand for ETFs, not expectations of Bitcoin's own price increase.
Weak month, record year
The bulk of the July loss is tied to Jane Street's stake in Situational Awareness, an AI-based hedge fund. Due to margin calls, the company was forced to urgently sell off its stock portfolio in late July. The situation was compounded by failed bets in Asian equity markets.
Notably, despite the losses, Jane Street's trading revenue for the year has already exceeded $40 billion — above the record $39.6 billion for all of 2025. This points to high operational activity despite the volatility.
Whether the company increased its Bitcoin ETF position after June 30, reduced it, or exited entirely — the next 13F report, due in November, will show. For now, $990 million is merely a one-time snapshot. It does not prove that Wall Street's largest market maker is betting on a rise in BTC's price.
My view: The market tends to overestimate such data, forgetting the role of market makers. For Jane Street, Bitcoin ETFs are a tool for liquidity and arbitrage, not an expression of bullish sentiment. Investors should focus on flows into the ETFs themselves and on-chain metrics, rather than 13F reports, which lag by a quarter and do not reflect the actual trading strategy.