Institutional investors are playing a more-influential role in crypto markets as retail traders retreat, and that explains much of the recent range-bound price action, according to Michael Safai of proprietary trading firm Dexterity Capital. 

“We might have been playing checkers two years ago,” said Safai, whose firm traded more than $1.2 trillion in crypto last year. “We’re playing chess now.” 

Safai joined the What Goes Up podcast this week to discuss the state of the digital-asset market and how high-frequency crypto trading strategies differ from the famous “Flash Boys” of the stock market.