Mike Smith
10 days ago
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From February 18 to 26, investors withdrew $2.99 billion from Bitcoin-based spot exchange-traded funds, including $754.5 million on the last reporting day. During the same period, trading volume in these instruments decreased from $7.74 billion to $5.79 billion, while total inflows fell to $37.1 billion. Assets under management (AUM) fell to $95.16 billion.
According to updated data, a record net outflow of $1.14 billion was recorded on February 25. The negative dynamics were significantly contributed by BlackRock's IBIT, which lost $418.1 million on February 26 - this is a historical maximum, exceeding the previous anti-record of $332.6 million, set on January 2. The day before, Franklin Templeton's FBTC showed a record outflow, with $344.65 million withdrawn. On February 26, this figure fell to $145.69 million.
Standard Chartered research published on February 27 points to possible continued outflows from Bitcoin ETFs. 10x Research analysts note that 56% of the turnover of these instruments is related to arbitrage - traders use the difference between spot and futures prices. However, in the current environment, funding rates and base spreads are too low, which makes holding and opening positions less attractive.
Rachel Lucas from BTC Markets attributes the change in trend to profit-taking after Bitcoin's rapid growth at the beginning of the year and its less confident dynamics in recent weeks. Investors are also concerned about monetary policy and US trade relations with other countries.
Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes previously suggested that the price of Bitcoin could fall to $70,000 due to the ongoing outflow of capital. At the same time, Bitwise predicts that the total net inflow of funds into Bitcoin ETFs could exceed $50 billion in 2025.
Ethereum ETFs are also showing a decline in investor interest. On February 26, $94.27 million was withdrawn from these funds, which brought the total net outflow over the past five days to $244.5 million. The total inflow into the instruments fell to $2.93 billion, and AUM - to $8.56 billion.
Regulators continue to analyze possible changes to the work of ETFs, including the addition of a mechanism for the redemption of assets in kind for Bitcoin and Ethereum funds, as well as the integration of staking.
