TL;DR
- U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $225.2 million in net outflows on July 23, ending a streak of seven consecutive trading sessions of net inflows.
- BlackRock accounted for the majority of the outflows, with $202.5 million in redemptions from its IBIT fund, by far the largest outflow of the day.
- Spot Ethereum ETFs extended their positive streak to five consecutive sessions, attracting $26.3 million in net inflows on the same day.
The spot Bitcoin ETFs listed in the United States ended a seven-session streak of consecutive net inflows on July 23, posting combined outflows of $225.2 million, according to data from SoSoValue.
The reversal was driven by the return of geopolitical tension between the United States and Iran, which pressured equity markets and briefly pulled BTC below $65,000. At the close of the session, BTC was trading around $65,403, after touching a low of $64,600 according to CoinGecko.
Bitcoin Under Pressure: the Weight of IBIT
The bulk of the outflows fell almost entirely on BlackRock and its iShares Bitcoin Trust, known as IBIT, which recorded $202.5 million in redemptions. The fund had accumulated more than $60.6 billion in net inflows since its launch, according to Farside Investors, making the trend reversal a notable episode, though not necessarily a defining one.
Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund lost $5.6 million, Bitwise’s BITB around $7 million, and ARK 21Shares’ ARKB posted $4.3 million in outflows. Franklin Templeton’s EZBC and WisdomTree’s BTCW also finished in negative territory with $5.6 million and $5.1 million in redemptions, respectively. The only fund to record a meaningful inflow was Morgan Stanley’s MSBT, capturing $5 million on the day.
The concentration of selling in IBIT suggests that one or more large-scale institutional investors reduced their exposure amid BTC’s difficulty consolidating above the mid-$60,000 range. ETF outflows can impact market liquidity when issuers must liquidate underlying BTC to process redemptions, though the ultimate effect depends on how those transactions are executed.
Ethereum ETFs Keep Growing
Unlike their Bitcoin counterparts, spot Ethereum ETFs extended their positive streak to five consecutive sessions, with net inflows of $26.3 million in the latest session. Fidelity’s FETH led the inflows with $14.9 million, followed by BlackRock’s ETHA with $8.5 million.
The divergence between both products suggests that institutional investors did not abandon their exposure to cryptocurrencies broadly, but rather rotated capital from Bitcoin into Ethereum through regulated vehicles.
