No Spot Bitcoin ETFs Saw Inflows on Tuesday, New Outflows Total $152 Million

The spot Bitcoin ETF market is experiencing a significant slowdown, marked by continuous outflows over the past four trading sessions. On Tuesday, June 18, for the first time since their launch in January 2024, none of the spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded any inflows, with outflows totaling $152 million. Consequently, Bitcoin’s price remains under pressure, currently trading around $65,435.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Losing Steam?

On Tuesday, June 18, the spot Bitcoin ETFs reported $152 million in total outflows. As said, none of the ETFs recorded any inflows on this day indicating a major lack of investor interest.

Fidelity’s FBTC experienced the highest outflows at $83 million while Grayscale’s GBTC ETF recorded outflows of $62.3 million. Tuesday marked the fourth consecutive day of negative outflows from Bitcoin ETFs, highlighting a strong trend of investor withdrawal.

As a result of the current outflows, the total assets under management for the spot Bitcoin ETFs have dropped to $14.7 billion. Currently, the top two players – BlackRock and Fidelity – cater to a huge part of the total market share.

The combined Bitcoin holdings by BlackRock and Fidelity currently stand at 477,121 BTC, valued at $31.4 billion, in their spot Bitcoin ETFs. These Bitcoin holdings are 262,721 more than those held by MicroStrategy.

A Look Into The Investor Cohort

Last week, Samara Cohen, Chief Investment Officer of ETF and Index Investments at BlackRock, highlighted that as of now, nearly 80% of Bitcoin ETF purchases are driven by “self-directed investors who have made their own allocation, often through an online brokerage account”.

She further stated that even the hedge funds and brokerages have shown interest as buyers, as per the last quarter’s 13-F filings. On the other hand, registered investment advisors have been more conscious in their approach.

This is because some of the top investment advisors have been weighing factors such as Bitcoin’s notorious price volatility and that the flagship cryptocurrency is in the nascent stage to have a significant performance record. At the same time, regulatory compliance and the crypto’s reputation for fraud and scandal have also been on the advisors’ minds.

The recent outflows and lack of interest have also put selling pressure on the Bitcoin price, which is trying to hold above $65,000 as of press time. At the same time, Australia’s spot Bitcoin ETFs have been witnessing minor inflows after launch last week.

🇦🇺 Australia’s #Bitcoin ETF has purchased 50 BTC since launch. pic.twitter.com/3wvM0s5Aou

— Thomas | heyapollo.com (@thomas_fahrer) June 18, 2024