We saw an across the board dip in volume at LMAX Digital on Tuesday. The dip was however to be expected after such an incredible run of high volume over the past several days. On Tuesday, total notional volume came in at a still impressive $999 million, despite coming in 20% lower than 30-day average volume.

The dip in bitcoin and ether volumes were consistent as well. Bitcoin volume was off 18% from 30-day average volume, while ether was down 20% from 30-day average volume. We suspect a lot of this had something to do with the fact that the market has been a little less decisive of late, confined to some consolidation as it contemplates the next big move.

Average position sizes were also a little softer on Tuesday, presumably for the same reason cited above. Average position size for bitcoin came in at $9,290 on Tuesday, as compared with $9,878 30-day average position size. Average position size for ether came in at $4,736, down from 30-day average position size of $5,060.

A lot of the credit behind adoption in 2021 has been around the rise in the decentralized finance and NFT spaces. And this credit is certainly due as mainstream adoption becomes more palatable with products that are more familiar to the regular, everyday investor. But at the same time, we can’t forget about the big push from the institutional side this year, quite arguably, the biggest driver of success in the space.

On Tuesday, there was more news from this front. Famed hedge fund trader Steve Cohen threw his hat in the ring. Cohen announced he would be investing in Radkl, a quantitative trading operation for digital assets. It seems over the past six months, Cohen has taken up an interest in cryptocurrency to the point where he is now quite excited about the many possibilities within the space.

Another story getting attention on the institutional front is the news Fidelity Investments has been in talks with the SEC to approve its bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Fidelity has cited increased investor appetite, the growth of bitcoin holders and the existence of similar funds in other countries as reason for the SEC to approve their request.