Jane Street, one of the largest market makers on Wall Street, sharply cut its Bitcoin ETF positions in Q1 2026 and increased exposure to Ethereum funds. According to a 13F filing published Tuesday, stakes in BlackRock IBIT and Fidelity FBTC dropped 71% and 60%, respectively, compared to Q4 2025. At the same time, purchases of Ethereum ETF shares across two funds totaled about $82 million for the quarter.
The repositioning came in a quarter when Jane Street posted record trading results. According to Reuters, the firm's Q1 2026 trading revenue reached $16.1 billion. The asset shift looks like a deliberate strategic decision rather than a forced sale under market pressure.
Bitcoin ETF Cuts: IBIT and FBTC
IBIT from BlackRock saw the largest cuts in absolute terms. Share count dropped roughly 71% from Q4 2025 to about 5.9 million shares valued at around $225 million. Fidelity FBTC fell about 60%, to roughly 2 million shares worth around $115 million.
Combined, Bitcoin ETF positions in these two funds dropped from roughly $1.25 billion in Q4 2025 to $340 million in Q1 2026. That is a reduction of about $910 million in one quarter. An important caveat: 13F filings reflect only long positions at quarter-end, not the full trading book, which includes hedges and derivatives. Jane Street's actual net Bitcoin exposure may look very different.
Ethereum ETF Rotation: Near Doubling
Jane Street nearly doubled its position in ETHA (BlackRock iShares Ethereum Trust) and sharply raised its stake in FETH (Fidelity Ethereum Fund). Combined additions across the two funds totaled about $82 million for the quarter. Wells Fargo also reported increased Ethereum ETF exposure in Q1 2026.
The shift is notable. Ethereum ETFs gained institutional traction in Q1 2026 after lagging Bitcoin counterparts on assets under management. US spot Ethereum ETFs launched in November 2024 but their AUM remained several times smaller than Bitcoin ETF totals. Jane Street's buying signals that large players are reassessing the relative attractiveness of the two assets.
Increasing positions in two separate Ethereum ETFs (BlackRock and Fidelity) rather than one points to provider diversification, mirroring the approach large institutions already use in Bitcoin ETF allocations.
Strategy and Miners: Broad Reduction
Alongside the Bitcoin ETF cuts, Jane Street sharply reduced its Strategy (MSTR) stake: from about 968,000 shares worth $145.9 million in Q4 2025 to roughly 210,000 shares ($27 million) in Q1 2026, a 78% decline. In the prior quarter the firm had increased its MSTR position by 473%. A swing from plus 473% to minus 78% in one quarter points to active position management, not passive drift.
In mining stocks, Jane Street also trimmed several positions: IREN, Cipher Mining, TeraWulf, and Core Scientific. The reasoning is direct: miners are a proxy on Bitcoin, and reducing BTC exposure pulls mining stocks along with it.
Crypto Equities With Gains: RIOT, COIN, and Galaxy
Not every crypto-linked holding shrank. Jane Street raised its RIOT Platforms stake to about 7.4 million shares (from 5 million in Q4 2025), pushing the position's value from $63 million to $91 million. Coinbase (COIN) also grew by share count: from 778,000 to 888,000, though total position value dipped slightly as the stock price pulled back.
Galaxy Digital showed the sharpest expansion: from roughly 17,000 shares worth $380,000 in Q4 2025 to 1.5 million shares ($28 million) in Q1 2026. An 87-fold increase in one quarter draws attention even at a relatively small absolute size. Galaxy operates across crypto banking, trading, and asset management, areas that overlap directly with Jane Street's market-making business.
What the Repositioning Signals for the Market
Jane Street is one of the few firms that publicly discloses crypto holdings of this scale in 13F filings. Each large move between asset classes reads as a market signal, with the caveat that 13F data does not show the full picture. For Ethereum, a narrowing price gap with Bitcoin in Q2 2026 could further accelerate institutional interest.
- Cutting both IBIT and FBTC rather than just one points to an asset-class-level decision, not a provider preference change
- Buying both ETHA and FETH on the same logic shows the Ethereum bet is on the asset itself, not on a specific fund manager
- Maintaining and growing COIN, RIOT, and GLXY shows Jane Street is rotating within crypto, not exiting it
If Q1 2026 13F filings from other large institutions show a similar pattern, that would confirm a broader institutional shift from Bitcoin toward Ethereum ETFs in the first quarter. The data from Jane Street and Wells Fargo alone is not enough for a firm conclusion, but it is the start of a picture worth watching.
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