Last week was rough for Spot Bitcoin ETFs as they failed to attract strong inflows day after day. As a result, these Spot Bitcoin ETFs witnessed consecutive daily outflows every day last week, indicating the bullish sentiment among institutional traders might actually be waning. This seems to have been reflected in the price of Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency fell to as low as $61,370 during the week.
Bitcoin ETFs See Sustained Outflows
Investor interest in Spot bitcoin ETFs skyrocketed throughout February and early March amid Bitcoin’s bull run, pushing its price to an all-time high of $73,737.
This maximum investor interest saw the ETFs setting new trading records for exchange-traded funds in the US. However, these ETFs have now set a negative record of five consecutive days of outflows to beat a four-day outflow streak set in January.
According to data from BitMEX Research, these ETFs witnessed five days of consecutive outflows of $154.4 million, $326.2 million, $261.6 million, $93.1 million, and $51.6 million. At the same time, Grayscale’s GBTC set a new record for the most daily outflow.
BitMEX also reveals that the world’s largest crypto asset manager saw redemptions of 9,539.7 BTC worth over $642.5 million on Monday, the largest single-day outflow in GBTC’s history.
[1/4] Bitcoin ETF Flow – 22 March 2024
All data in. 5th day of net outflows. $52m total net outflow for the day. Blackrock with a record low inflow of $18.9m pic.twitter.com/63u297xh8d
— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) March 23, 2024
Grayscale’s outflow wasn’t particularly surprising, considering that the fund has witnessed consistent daily outflow since its launch. The surprise came from very weak inflow into other Spot ETFs like BlackRock (IBIT) and Fidelity (FBTC), whose huge inflows have always offset outflows from GBTC.
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that Blackrock (IBIT), which has consistently been the target of the majority of inflow, established a new inflow low of $18.9 million on Friday, March 22. Fidelity, on the other hand, also saw its inflow fall to as low as $5.9 million on Monday, March 18.
Can Bitcoin Price Recover?
The big question now is whether Bitcoin can stage a strong recovery and reclaim its recent all-time high above $73,000. A continuation of outflows from Spot Bitcoin ETFs could further weigh on Bitcoin price.
Interestingly, the weak inflow hasn’t really related to low trading activity, as trading volume remained significant throughout the week. Data shows that the cumulative trading volume of the 10 ETFs is now at $164 billion after witnessing $22.71 billion in trading volume last week.
After a week of deep outflows, the coming days will be crucial in determining the next major move in the price of Bitcoin. Despite the rough week, Bitcoin still has a chance to rebound back to $73,000 or higher, especially with the approach of the next Bitcoin halving event.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView