- US spot-Bitcoin ETFs bled more than US$1.3 billion last week, the bulk of it from BlackRock’s IBIT, as outflows ran for seven straight trading days.
- IBIT shed about US$444.5 million on June 26 alone, its largest single-day withdrawal since launching in January 2024.
- Glassnode analysts said investors are now cutting exposure rather than buying the dip, a reversal of the role the funds played in earlier downturns.
US spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds shed more than US$1.3 billion (AU$1.885 billion) last week, the bulk of it from BlackRock’s IBIT, as the institutional investors once seen as the market’s steady hand turned into its most aggressive sellers.
As per Bloomberg, the outflows ran for seven consecutive trading days and capped a seventh straight week of net withdrawals from IBIT, the largest of the funds. IBIT alone accounted for roughly three-quarters of the week’s net redemptions across the US spot-Bitcoin ETF complex.
On June 26, about US$444.5 million left IBIT in a single session, its biggest one-day withdrawal since the fund launched in January 2024 and effectively the entire complex’s outflow that day.
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A Reversal of Roles
The shift marks a departure from past downturns, when spot-Bitcoin ETFs typically absorbed selling and bought the dip. Glassnode analysts said investors are now choosing to cut exposure rather than accumulate, flipping the cohort from a stabilising force into one that is amplifying the decline.
That matters because the ETFs were sold, in part, as a source of patient institutional demand that would smooth out crypto’s volatility. With spot-Bitcoin ETF assets still exceeding US$50 billion (AU$72.5 billion), the direction of those flows now carries outsized weight over short-term price action, and a sustained reversal would remove a buyer the market had come to rely on.
Not every read is alarming. Some analysts attribute the exits to profit-taking after Bitcoin’s earlier-year rally, combined with uncertainty over Federal Reserve rate policy, while others point to institutional rebalancing and redemption requests rather than a broad loss of confidence.
Either way, the selling has weighed on price, with BTC falling roughly 8% over the streak to trade near US$59,000 (AU$85,550). The pattern is a marked break from the early ETF period, when steady inflows into the funds were widely credited with cushioning sell-offs and underpinning Bitcoin’s climb.
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