Across all spot Bitcoin ETFs, the week’s total net outflows stood at $334 million as of Tuesday, following two consecutive weeks of $1 billion and $1.26 billion in redemptions.
The transaction highlights a critical tension: massive institutional selling is happening off-exchange to avoid rocking the order book. While Bitcoin’s price still reacted, the reaction was contained, experts told Decrypt.
A dark pool allows a seller to settle a trade with a broker without hitting public order books, concealing the transaction’s full weight from the open market.
What it means for Bitcoin“The reason the decline was not even deeper is that the market was still able to absorb a substantial amount of supply without a full liquidity breakdown,” he told Decrypt.
Shawn Young, chief analyst at MEXC Research, echoed Verbitskii’s take. “The price did react in the minutes after the print, but the move was contained because this looked more like a large portfolio adjustment than a disorderly liquidation,” he told Decrypt.
Looking aheadThough the dark pool transaction kept the worst of the selling pressure off public books, experts agree it was net negative for the ecosystem.
“It reflects a large source of demand leaving the market,” Verbitskii said, adding that Bitcoin is showing structural and technical weakness. “We are not yet seeing strong standalone demand capable of fully offsetting large institutional selling flows.”
While the broader ETF market is “still functioning in an orderly way,” Young said, institutions are “reducing or rebalancing risk after a strong run.”
