In a recent turn of events, the U.S. Bitcoin ETF market has seen substantial capital withdrawals. On March 20th, investors pulled out $261.5 million from ten regulated funds, which continued a trend that resulted in a total of $742 million in outflows over three days. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF were among those that suffered the most, with the latter seeing outflows of $386.6 million and $10.2 million, respectively.
ETF Performance Dips
Despite these significant outflows, contributions to other ETFs did occur, but the amounts were overshadowed by the withdrawals. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, for instance, recorded their second-lowest daily net inflows ever, with $49.3 million and $12.9 million added, respectively.
Bitcoin’s Price Fluctuations Pre-Halving
Amidst this ETF activity, Bitcoin itself exhibited a notable increase, gaining over 3% during U.S. trading hours, and even saw a 7.5% rise within a 24-hour period, reaching a trading value of $67,089.
With the Bitcoin halving event on the horizon, which will cut mining rewards in half, the cryptocurrency has recently experienced a downturn from its March 14th peak. This suggests that Bitcoin miners might be offloading their holdings in anticipation of the halving.
Traditionally, Bitcoin has shown a tendency to drop in value in the lead-up to halving events. This pattern has been evident again as the event draws near, with several analysts cautioning about potential price corrections. These warnings seem to have resonated with short-term Bitcoin investors, leading to increased sell-offs.