Since the introduction of the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) investing directly in Bitcoin on January 11, Bitcoin’s price has fallen by 20%. On their debut, the price of Bitcoin surged to $49,021 but has since dropped to $39,718. Large financial institutions like BlackRock and Fidelity Investments are involved in these ETFs. Sean Farrell from Fundstrat Global Advisors provided a positive outlook amidst the downturn for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Recent data shows that Bitcoin’s price drop and market-wide selling have led to $225 million in liquidations in the last 24 hours. The strengthening U.S. dollar over the past two weeks has also contributed to Bitcoin’s challenges, along with significant selling pressure from the unwinding of GBTC arbitrage positions and the liquidation of assets by the FTX bankruptcy estate.
Farrell suggests that the sales by FTX could eliminate excess supply and that the intense selling pressure from GBTC might soon decrease, offering reassurance to investors.
Bloomberg analysts reported that the trading volume of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $2 billion on January 22, with GBTC contributing more than half of that. Fidelity’s trading volume surpassed BlackRock’s for the second consecutive day, and approximately 35% of GBTC’s outflows went to the other nine spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Data from Lookonchain indicates that BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust received a significant inflow of Bitcoin from Coinbase Prime. iShares Bitcoin Trust now holds about 33,431 Bitcoins, valued at approximately $1.33 billion. This coincides with the launch of nine new spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. on January 11. Additionally, GBTC, managing $22 billion in assets, transitioned from a closed-end structure to a fully open-ended ETF, seeing $1.2 billion in net inflows in the first six days after the transition. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund emerged as significant recipients of the growing investor interest.