Spot Bitcoin Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced net outflows of $76 million on their seventh day of trading, according to data from Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart. In a post on January 23, Seyffart highlighted the largest net outflow for spot Bitcoin ETFs, noting $640 million in outflows that day. He mentioned that the outflows are increasing, describing it as the largest outflow for Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to date, bringing the total outflows to $3.45 billion.
Despite the significant outflows from GBTC, Seyffart pointed out that overall spot Bitcoin ETF inflows have remained positive. BlackRock, in particular, saw its third-largest positive inflow day, with net inflows totaling $272 million for the day. Seyffart mentioned that, considering the outflows from GBTC, over $1.1 billion flowed into spot Bitcoin ETFs on the same day.
While acknowledging the seemingly constant outflows from GBTC, Seyffart expressed expectations that the sell-off led by GBTC would cool down over the next two weeks. The significant outflows from Grayscale's recently converted GBTC fund were largely associated with a massive sell-off in FTX assets. FTX Group reportedly sold about two-thirds of its 22.8 million GBTC shares, leading to a total GBTC-related net outflow of $3.4 billion, equivalent to approximately $600 million.
Following the approval of the 10 spot ETFs on January 10, Bitcoin prices witnessed a sharp decline, dropping from a high of $49,100 to as low as $39,500 on January 23. Despite the price drop, Bitcoin is currently holding steady above the $40,000 mark, based on Trading View data. The decline in Bitcoin prices coincides with a sudden and sharp drop in open interest in CME Bitcoin futures, indicating waning enthusiasm among institutional investors for leveraged exposure to Bitcoin. CoinGlass data reveals that CME's open interest fell from nearly an all-time high of $6.4 billion on January 12 to $4.4 billion at the time of publication.
