That focus may make future altcoin rallies extra selective.
“The result’s a market the place the circulate that more and more units route is concentrated in fewer names, traded extra selectively,” the report mentioned. It added that broad-based rallies, the place most various cryptocurrencies rise collectively, have gotten much less possible as institutional capital focuses on a handful of belongings.
Derivatives and tokenization acquire traction
The report additionally factors to rising use of derivatives as one other defining development. Wintermute mentioned notional buying and selling quantity in altcoin choices on its OTC desk elevated about 3.4 instances from the second half of 2025 to the primary half of 2026, pushed largely by buyers in search of yield relatively than outright value publicity. On the identical time, contracts for distinction, or CFDs, are getting used throughout a wider vary of cryptocurrencies for directional buying and selling, hedging and basket methods.
Past buying and selling, tokenized real-world belongings continued to achieve momentum, with the worth of tokenized belongings climbing practically 50% to $31 billion throughout the first six months of the yr, whereas common month-to-month switch quantity greater than doubled to $9 billion. The agency mentioned establishments are primarily adopting tokenized Treasuries, cash market funds and personal credit score, whereas retail buyers stay extra lively in tokenized equities.
Whereas Wintermute expects retail participation to return throughout the subsequent crypto bull market, it argues institutional affect is unlikely to fade. As a substitute, it mentioned the market is more and more taking up the traits of its largest members, with skilled buyers shaping liquidity, pricing and the forms of belongings that entice capital.