BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF posts largest daily net outflows since launch

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) reported net outflows of $332.6 million on Thursday, marking its largest daily outflow since launching last year.

Thursday’s record outflows exceeded the previous record of $188.7 million in net outflows observed on Christmas Eve. IBIT had $2.26 billion in trading volume yesterday, according to data from SoSoValue.

“Institutional investors often rebalance their portfolios to align with asset allocation targets,” said Neal Wen, Head of Global BD at Kronos Research. “The large outflows from BlackRock's IBIT may reflect such activity, particularly in response to Bitcoin's price movements or broader market conditions.”

BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF has underperformed in recent weeks in terms of daily flows compared to its string of significant net inflows seen in early to mid-December, during which bitcoin rallied to hit its all-time high of $108,135.

Still, IBIT remains the largest spot bitcoin ETF, so far accumulating a total net inflow of $36.9 billion, with net assets of nearly $53.5 billion. 

Meanwhile, several other spot bitcoin ETFs reported moderate inflows on Thursday. Bitwise’s BITB had $48.3 million in net inflows, followed by $36.2 million in inflows into Fidelity’s FBTC. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB, VanEck’s HODL and Grayscale Mini Bitcoin Trust also recorded net inflows yesterday.

The only other net outflow came from Grayscale’s GBTC, totaling $23.1 million. In total, spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. experienced net outflows of $242.3 million on Thursday and traded $3.24 billion.

The price of bitcoin rose 1.3% in the past 24 hours leading up to 1 p.m. in Hong Kong, changing hands at $96,690, according to The Block's bitcoin price page .

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs saw total net outflows of $77.5 million yesterday. Outflows were led by Bitwise’s ETHW, which saw $56.1 million leave the fund. Grayscale’s ETHE reported $21.4 million in outflows.

The ether funds recorded a total trading volume of $397.2 million on Thursday, up from $313.1 million on Dec. 31. Their cumulative total net inflows stood at $2.58 billion.