U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded net outflows of $869.9 million on Thursday, marking the second-largest single-day withdrawal since their inception.
Major outflows led by Grayscale and BlackRock
According to SoSoValue data, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust was at the forefront, seeing $318.2 million exit the fund.
BlackRock’s IBIT ETF followed with $256.6 million in outflows, while Fidelity’s FBTC saw $119.9 million leave.
Other providers, including Grayscale’s GBTC, Ark and 21Shares, Bitwise, VanEck, Invesco, Valkyrie, and Franklin Templeton, also reported net outflows.
Institutional sentiment turns cautious
The sharp outflows reflect a shift in institutional sentiment. Vincent Liu, CIO of Kronos Research, commented:
“Large outflows signal a risk-off reset, reflecting institutions pulling back amid macro noise. This flow weighs on short-term momentum but doesn’t dent the broader structural demand. These bleed-outs align with oversold conditions, opening doors for long-term opportunists.”
Min Jung of Presto Research added that the movement represents “a broad de-risking across markets” as investors rotate toward safer assets while uncertainty around the Federal Reserve’s policy persists.
Bitcoin price drops alongside ETF exits
The record-setting outflows coincided with a sharp decline in bitcoin’s price, which fell 6.4% in the past 24 hours to $96,956.
Market analysts cited cascading liquidations and thinning liquidity as causes. Liu noted that demand support is clustered between $92,000 and $95,000, with volatility likely to remain elevated until new capital enters the market.