In the days before the bitcoin halving, demand for spot bitcoin ETFs has decreased. This trend is reflected in continued net outflows from these funds over the last five days, with a total of about $319 million in outflows since April 12, according to data from Farside Investors. This is only the second time such a series of outflows has occurred, the previous time being from March 18 to 22, during which as much as $888 million was withdrawn.
Grayscale and Ark lead the outflows of bitcoin ETFs
A major factor in the recent net outflows is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). Since converting to an ETF in January, GBTC has seen an average of $116 million in net outflows per day over the last five trading days. The Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) also saw significant withdrawals, with $43 million withdrawn on Wednesday alone. In contrast, other funds have seen a complete halt to inflows.
BlackRock continues to see positive inflows into ETF
Despite the general industry slowdown, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has maintained positive daily inflows, standing out as the leader in inflows. Yet even IBIT experienced its lowest inflow levels on Wednesday and Thursday, at $18 million and $19 million respectively. On Thursday, the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) even outperformed IBIT, with net inflows of $37 million.
In total, US spot bitcoin ETFs have seen around $12.3 billion in net inflows in just over three months since they came to market, despite withdrawing $16.7 billion from GBTC. Notably, BlackRock is the only issuer among these funds to have seen net inflows every day since trading began on January 11, with a streak of 68 days of positive totals as of Thursday.
This period of reduced demand coincides with a big drop in the price of bitcoin, which fell below $60,000 on Wednesday just before the halving.
Some perspective on the “it’s so over” ETF flows lately:
1. Totally normal for ETF category to cool off after breathtaking pace like this, esp w/ price down 12% in past 5 days (more on that in a minute)
2. It’s microscopic. Over past five days the ten’s net flows are -$223m,… https://t.co/Yd56QxYWMs— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 18, 2024
Eric Balchunas, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, noted that it is “very normal for an ETF category to cool off after a breathtaking pace like this,” especially during a bitcoin price drop.
Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.nl/nieuws/uitstroom-bitcoin-etfs-halvering
