Institutional Interest Quadruples Wintermute’s OTC Volume

Institutional interest in digital assets fueled record over-the-trade (OTC) volume in 2024, crypto market maker Wintermute revealed in a recent report.

In its full-year review, Wintermute pointed out that OTC volumes surged nearly 313% in 2024, while traditional financial institutions’ OTC volumes rose by 240%.

“We saw record-breaking growth driven by demand for sophisticated products like CFDs and options, reflecting a maturing market that increasingly mirrors traditional finance,” Wintermute Group CEO Evgeny Gaevoy said in the report.

The OTC volume growth was much higher than the overall exchange sector’s growth of 142%. The average OTC trade size increased by 17% as more traders executed larger blocks.

The SEC’s spot ETF approvals drove institutional demand in 2024. On top of that, Trump’s win propelled volumes to new all-time highs, with Wintermute achieving a record single-day volume of $2.24 billion in Nov. 2024, surpassing its previous one-week best trading volume of $2 billion recorded in 2023.

Wintermute’s derivatives products accounted for 4.3% of the total OTC volume within just ten months, fueled by the launch of its CFD offering.

The institutional demand for block trades through traditional channels such as CME and Eurex drove higher volume in options trading.

“Looking ahead to 2025, we anticipate even greater momentum as crypto integrates deeper into global financial infrastructure through ETFs, corporate holdings, tokenization, and the rise of structured products,” added Gaevoy in the report.

Wintermute expects the Trump administration to reduce regulatory uncertainty by classifying cryptocurrencies as commodities.

Memecoins Get Noticed

Wintermute’s report highlighted that traditional finance players are becoming more interested in memecoins. In 2024, memecoins accounted for 16.2% of total OTC spot volume compared to 7.3% in 2023.

The report also predicts a memecoin ETF becoming a reality in 2025 as institutional investors are bullish on memecoins.