Bitcoin
Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw record one-day outflows yesterday amid Bitcoin price volatility
Key Takeaways
- The bitcoin ETF spot market saw record net outflows of $563.7 million on Wednesday.
- This increase in outflows followed the fourth bitcoin halving, an event that has historically led to positive movements in bitcoin prices.
- This single day of large outflows must be kept in perspective, as they only represent about 1% of the total inflows that have entered investment products since January.
- The outflows coincided with a decline in the price of bitcoin this week, from the $64,500 level to below $59,000.
Investors withdrew a record net $563.7 million from cash bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Wednesday amid wild bitcoin price swings (Reuters)Bitcoin). But analysts say investors may not have reason to worry just yet.
The largest cryptocurrency by market cap fell below $57,000 yesterday before recovering some of those losses. It is currently trading near $59,000.
Trading view
Blackrock iShares Bitcoin Trust (I BITE) registered departures for the first time since started negotiating on Jan. 11, according to data tracked by Farside Investors. While IBIT saw a net outflow of $36.9 million from the fund, Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) also recorded outflows of US$191.1 million.
The two ETFs have been popular with investors looking to enter the spot bitcoin ETF market, so far recording around $15 billion and $8 billion in net inflows, respectively.
Blip or trend? How should you view these outputs
Bitcoin experienced its fourth halving event just a few weeks ago, and historically, these halving events– where the amount of new bitcoins issued approximately every ten minutes is halved – were followed by massive increases in the price of bitcoin.
Spot bitcoin ETFs are considered a main differentiator for this halving compared to all other instances in the past due to its influence on cryptocurrency demand. Before the halving, some analysts said that its impact was already built into the price of bitcoin and that going forward it would have fewer consequences compared to the imbalance between supply and demand created by spot ETFs.
The recent outflows could be a short-term phenomenon, Blackrock’s head of digital assets Robert Mitchnick told CoinDesk, adding that the asset manager was seeing large investors such as pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other large asset managers , regarding potential investments in Bitcoin.
Others warned investors against a knee-jerk reaction.
“Keep in mind that yesterday’s outflows were about 1% of AUM, and [the] last [weeks] combined less than 4% AUM, which is completely normal for [a] Risky asset ETF during sell-off,” Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, wrote in a post on X.