Bitcoin ETF outflows hit $465 million over two days as IBIT leads withdrawals
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $465 million across Thursday and Friday, with BlackRock’s IBIT accounting for most of the withdrawals.
By Theo Nakamura · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
Bitcoin ETF outflows reached $465 million over two trading days, according to Farside Investors, a quick reversal after a week of steady demand. For retail investors, the move matters because spot Bitcoin ETFs have become one of the easiest ways to track institutional appetite for Bitcoin without watching crypto exchanges directly.
U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $240 million in net withdrawals on Friday after losing $225 million on Thursday, Farside data showed. A spot Bitcoin ETF is a stock-market fund that holds Bitcoin directly, letting investors get exposure through a brokerage account instead of managing a crypto wallet.
An outflow means more money left the funds than entered them during the session. In practice, that can force ETF issuers to reduce Bitcoin exposure as investors redeem shares, though the exact mechanics depend on each fund’s structure and authorized participants.
Why are Bitcoin ETFs seeing outflows?
Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, told Decrypt that the swing looked like institutions cutting short-term Bitcoin exposure rather than building a durable position. He said the pattern suggested some investors had been making staged, tactical allocations near a temporary price low, rather than showing broad conviction in a lasting rally.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, known by its ticker IBIT, accounted for just under $415 million of the two-day outflow, according to the Farside figures cited by Decrypt. Sun said IBIT’s role matters because large investors often use the fund for adding exposure or hedging due to its size and liquidity.
The outflows ended a seven-session run of inflows that had brought in about $1 billion. During that stretch, daily inflows topped out at $227 million on July 20 before demand cooled, according to Farside data.
Even after the Thursday and Friday withdrawals, the ETF group still finished the week with nearly $34 million in net inflows, Decrypt reported, because three earlier sessions brought in enough money to offset part of the late-week pullback.
What macro risks are investors watching?
Sun linked the reversal to broader market caution, citing renewed U.S.-Iran tensions, oil above $100, higher inflation expectations and bond-market pricing that reflected increased odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike later this year. Higher expected rates can pressure risk assets because safer investments may offer more attractive returns, while borrowing and liquidity conditions can tighten.
Sun also said the shift was not limited to crypto. He pointed to U.S. stock funds posting net outflows for a second consecutive week and bond funds ending a run of inflows, describing the ETF move as part of a wider pullback in asset allocation.
Bitcoin recently traded around $65,300 and was up 1.9% for the week, according to CoinGecko data cited by Decrypt. On Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt parent company Dastan, users assigned a 37% probability to Bitcoin’s next move reaching $84,000, versus the alternative path shown on that market of $55,000.
This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.
