Bitcoin moves as Jane Street suit revives 10 a.m. debate

After Jane Street lawsuit, 10 a.m. Bitcoin plunge paused, unproven causation

A recurring narrative held that Bitcoin often dipped around 10 a.m. ET on U.S. trading days. After the Terraform Labs liquidator filed a lawsuit against Jane Street, observers noted that this specific pattern appeared to pause.

As reported by TechFlowpost, several months of intraday data showed sharp 10 a.m. moves, including a December 2025 session where prices fell from roughly $89,700 to $87,700 within minutes. The same report said that the abrupt morning sell pressure subsided after the lawsuit became public, though this does not establish a cause-and-effect link.

There remains no verified public evidence tying the recurring 10 a.m. moves to a single actor. The correlation is notable, but attribution is unproven and would depend on discovery and adjudication in court.

Why this matters for Bitcoin ETF hedging and liquidity

According to Decrypt, online scrutiny has focused on how institutional middlemen may hedge Bitcoin ETF creations and redemptions, creating a visible gap between fund inflows and immediate spot buying. Those mechanics can produce intraday flows that resemble timed selling, especially during U.S. morning liquidity windows.

This interpretation competes with manipulation theories by offering a market-structure lens: cash creations, inventory management, and staggered execution can cluster hedges at repeatable times. If so, a perceived “10 a.m.” effect may reflect execution logistics, not necessarily coordinated dumping.

At the time of this writing, Bitcoin trades near $68,705 with high 9.88% volatility and a neutral RSI of 42.98, based on the provided market data. The dataset also flags a bearish sentiment reading and 12 green days out of the last 30, contextual rather than predictive metrics.

CrowdfundInsider reports that the administrator overseeing the liquidation of Terraform Labs filed suit accusing Jane Street of exploiting confidential information ahead of the Luna/UST collapse. The complaint frames these as market-abusive actions; Jane Street contests the claims, and the court process will determine what occurred.

Market context remains mixed as institutional participation shifts. Separately, crypto investment products saw $288 million of net outflows last week and roughly $4 billion over five weeks, based on data from CoinShares, underscoring a cautious backdrop for liquidity.

Expert reactions and counterpointsEric Balchunas on the post-lawsuit 10 a.m. shift

Analysts have highlighted the timing overlap between the lawsuit‘s emergence and a pause in the alleged 10 a.m. dip, while cautioning against asserting causation. Said Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg: “The bogeyman is gone. That’s the vibe right now on crypto Twitter and in the price action today.”

Jane Street denial and market-maker incentive logic

Jane Street has called the lawsuit‘s accusations “baseless, opportunistic claims,” according to Cointelegraph, and says it will vigorously defend itself. The firm’s position is that it did not manipulate markets or profit from insider information.

Further, Blockzeit reports that Anton Golub argued a single market maker is unlikely to consistently move Bitcoins highly liquid market via timed dumps. He emphasized that market makers typically monetize spreads and arbitrage, rather than persistent directional bets.