The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 10 led to an unexpected downward trend in Bitcoin’s (BTC) price, surprising market participants. The largest cryptocurrency recently dropped to $41,900, liquidating $338 million in positions. Investors and analysts, including prominent fund manager Anthony Scaramucci, are speculating when the decline will end, with Scaramucci suggesting the selling pressure might decrease within 6-8 trading days.
Scaramucci, CEO of SkyBridge Capital, attributed the recent Bitcoin slump partially to sales from Grayscale Investments’ spot Bitcoin ETF (GBTC) and liquidations linked to the bankrupt exchange FTX. He believes the selling pressure affecting Bitcoin and altcoins could subside soon, potentially setting the stage for a rebound in the leading cryptocurrency.
At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $43,095, reflecting a 5.89% decrease over the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, the cumulative trading volume of spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $7.5 billion in just two days, with the initial day’s volume surpassing $4.5 billion.
Experienced Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas pointed out that the majority of GBTC trades were sales, as investors shifted to lower-fee products like those offered by BlackRock and Fidelity. Data highlighted by Balchunas showed GBTC experiencing nearly $100 million in net outflows on the first day.
During the same period, ETFs from Bitwise, Fidelity, and BlackRock saw net inflows of $237 million, $226.97 million, and $111.67 million, respectively.