Bitcoin ETF Weekly Outflows Reach $900M Amid Crypto Market Crash, What’s Next?

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24 Mar 2024

The Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded outflows for five consecutive days last with nearly $900 million net outflows amid the BTC price crash.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Spot Bitcoin ETFs registered massive outflows this week.
The surge in ETF outflows comes amid a drop in BTC price.
The Bitcoin price experienced significant volatility with major pullback and rebound sessions.

This week witnessed significant turbulence in the Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) market, with total net outflows nearing $900 million. Moreover, this coincides with the pullback in the Bitcoin (BTC) price and the crypto market crash. The major contributor to these outflows was the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF (GBTC), which saw staggering outflows totaling $14 billion since its January 2024 launch.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Register Outflows For The Entire Week

The Bitcoin ETFs recorded over $888 million outflows in the current week. On Friday, March 22, Spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced a substantial net outflow of $51.6 million, while GBTC alone recorded a single-day outflow of $169 million. In contrast, BlackRock’s ETF (IBIT) observed minimal net inflows, mitigating some of the negative impact.
Despite Bitcoin’s price facing pressure, currently trading at $64,051 with a market cap of $1.259 trillion, analyst Michael van de Poppe sees BlackRock’s consistent inflows into Spot Bitcoin ETFs as a positive sign of ongoing institutional buying activity, suggesting the market cycle is far from over.
GBTC’s persistent outflows continue to dent the Bitcoin ETF market, with Thursday, March 21, marking another substantial outflow of $359 million, totaling $1.8 billion for the week. Moreover, Bitcoin ETF outflows accelerated, reaching $95 million on March 21 and $261 million on March 20, summing up to $742 million over three days.
While GBTC faced a notable single-day outflow of $386 million on Wednesday, March 20, IBIT saw a significant inflow of $49.28 million, lifting its total historical net inflow to $13.09 billion. However, concerns over central bank actions have led to drying up of ETF inflows this week.
With Bitcoin ETFs experiencing consecutive days of outflows, totaling $326 million on Tuesday, March 19, market sentiment appears to be shifting. Institutional investors seemed cautious ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision on March 20, which reflected in subdued inflows across most ETFs.

GBTC’s woes persisted with a massive $444 million outflow on Tuesday, exacerbating its losses. On the contrary, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF regained momentum on Monday, March 18, recording $451.5 million inflows, contrasting with minimal inflows for other ETFs.
Also Read: Five Days of Bitcoin ETF Outflows But BTC Price Shows Reversal Signs

BTC Price Experiences Volatility

Bitcoin recently recorded major pullback after attaining a new all-time high of $73,836 earlier this month. The BTC price slumped lower than $61,000 and rebounded back above $67,000 amid increased volatility. However, the Bitcoin price plunged to the $65,000 level again despite the rebound.
At press time, the BTC price was up by 2.68% to $65,302.84 on Friday, March 23. Meanwhile, the oldest crypto held a gigantic market capitalization of $1.28 billion. In contrast, the 24-hour trade volume plummeted 33.58% to $27.82 billion.

The recent recovery in Bitcoin’s value has been met by short squeeze. Nearly $30.68 million short liquidations were noted for BTC out of $48.31 million total liquidations, according to Coinglass. These short traders are expected to buy back their positions to mitigate potential losses. Moreover, this move could send the Bitcoin price higher momentarily, accompanied with a massive correction later.
Whilst, the crypto market as a whole also suffered a crash. The Ethereum (ETH) price crashed below $3,200 from its recent high of $4092. In addition, Solana (SOL) slumped lower than $180 despite surging past $200 earlier this month.
Also Read: Bitcoin Halving History Chart Analysed

Crypto Headlines Of The Week: Bitcoin, Ethereum, & Meme Coins Trigger Speculations

Another remarkable week ends within the cryptocurrency universe with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and meme coins nabbing global attention.
By Coingape Staff4 hours ago

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Bitcoin's price flux piques interest among crypto market traders and investors.
Ethereum encounters a downturn.
Meme coins stir a whirlpool of inferences.

The cryptocurrency realm concludes yet another week with remarkable events witnessed across the broader crypto market. Among these events, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and meme coins
appear to be standing out particularly, garnering substantial investor attention.
Some of the top headlines that went abuzz for this week are-

Bitcoin’s Flux Prompts Inferences

Over the past week, Bitcoin has traded with quite a lot of volatility, with its price showcasing substantial dips and jumps in hand. This piqued the global crypto market’s attention, as the token showcased a set of mixed market sentiments despite the highly optimistic BTC halving looming.
Standard Chartered, a consumer banking protocol, anticipated BTC to hit $150K this year, aligning with the optimism sparked by the upcoming halving. Whereas, many industry prominencies predicted a further slump for Bitcoin, attributing it to a plethora of reasons including, BTC options that are set to expire, FUD-triggered whale selloffs, crypto market liquidations, market corrections, etc.
Intriguingly, Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy acquired more Bitcoin this week, totaling its BTC holdings to more than that of the US govt. or China, evaluating as 1% of BTC’s max supply. On the other hand, the recently emerging BTC ETFs gained additional traction as Grayscale announced that it would be slashing its GBTC BTC ETF fees shortly.

Ethereum Encounters Setback

Ethereum, the world’s second-most popular cryptocurrency, countered a notable setback this week as its price showcased a significant downturn. Although banking institutions like Standard Chartered remained bullish on ETH’s price action ahead, the broader crypto market painted a bearish outlook for ETH this week.
A stockpile of reasons, including the surge in ETH exchange inflows, crypto market liquidation, the derivatives market’s loss of investor confidence, and others, pulled ETH down to the $3.3K mark. In the interim, traders continued to offload colossal amounts of ETH tokens amid this recently witnessed correction, stirring a whirlpool of bearishness on Ethereum this week.
Also Read: Dogecoin Leads Meme Coin Frenzy This Week, Here’s Why

Meme Coins Fuel Speculation

Meanwhile, the meme coin universe sparkled with phenomenal gains again, although the meme coin season seems to be waning away. Some of the top meme coins that echoed a frenzy this week are-

Shiba Inu

The self-proclaimed Dogecoin killer illustrated a storm of breakthroughs this week, with its ecosystem embarking upon strategic collaborations, developments, and token launches. Although even Shiba Inu witnessed price corrections, aligning with the broader correctory trend within the market, the token’s community’s continued SHIB burning and recent advancements spotlighted in ‘The Shib’ added a tint of market optimism to the meme coin.
Similarly, this week, Slerf, a Solana-based meme coin, curated a torrent of speculative buzz. With extended support from exchanges such as HTX, Jupiter, and Beeple, the meme token noted phenomenal gains.