Bitcoin ETF net outflows streak hits four days, $836 million
US spot bitcoin ETFs have seen net money leave the category for four straight days, matching the longest streak in their 10 weeks of trading.
Put another way, one bitcoin fund’s outflows have accelerated while the others have not been able to offset the bleeding.
The 10 BTC funds endured net outflows amounting to $94 million on Thursday, putting the segment’s cumulative bleeding at $836 million so far this week, according to Farside Investors data.
Spot bitcoin ETFs in the US have tallied $11.3 billion of net inflows since launching on Jan. 11. The funds saw about $2.5 billion of capital enter the funds last week, an all-time high over such a span.
Read more: Bitcoin ETF snapshot: Segment’s week net inflows hit record $2.5B
But net outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) peaked on Monday at $642 million, more than offsetting the $452 million of net inflows from the segment’s fastest-growing iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
Overall, GBTC’s average daily net outflows in this week’s first four days was $458 million — outpacing the average daily net inflows over that time for BlackRock’s IBIT, which is $202 million.
Outflows were expected for GBTC, which was previously a trust listed on OTC markets, with shares trading at a discount in recent years. It is priced significantly higher than the other spot bitcoin ETFs, carrying a fee of 1.5%.
Bankrupt lender Genesis was also granted approval last month to offload roughly $1.6 billion worth of GBTC shares — a potential driver of the exodus.
The four straight days of net outflows for the spot bitcoin funds is the first such streak since Jan. 22 to Jan. 25. Net outflows were more muted during that span, BitMEX Research data shows — totaling $432 million.
The recent outflows have come as bitcoin’s price took a dive this week in the days after reaching a new all-time high above $73,000. It went as low as about $61,000 on Tuesday.
The BTC price has since recovered, and was at about $64,800 at 6:55 a.m. ET Friday — down roughly 7.5% from a week ago.
Some industry watchers have said they expect another wave of inflows for spot bitcoin ETFs once more wirehouses — such as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and UBS — clear such funds for their clients.
Read more: Bitcoin ETF catalyzing broader merge of TradFi, crypto: BlackRock exec
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said during a panel at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit on Tuesday that he expected such platforms could start approving access to the bitcoin funds in as little as a week.
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