Bitcoin whales boosted their holdings during the Crypto market chaos, but ETF investors took advantage of the drop
According to IntoTheBlock, Bitcoin wallet owners holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC have increased their holdings while prices have fallen over the past few days and those with less than 1 BTC have become sellers.
On Monday, net outflows from Bitcoin ETFs totaled $168 million, primarily driven by Grayscale GBTC, Fidelity FBTC and 21Shares/Ark Invest ARKB.
According to ONE analyst, ETF investors were "much more active" than expected, with only 0.3% of assets exiting the funds.
Bitcoin (BTC) investors experienced sharp (mostly downward) price swings as prices fell sharply over the weekend to $49,000 by Monday morning before rising modestly to around $56,000 in the U.S. morning, prompting mixed reactions from holders.
According to IntoTheBlock, a blockchain analytics firm, Bitcoin whales, or large asset holders, took the opportunity to buy at lower prices, while smaller investors sold assets as panic set in.
IntoTheBlock analysts note that Crypto wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC, which at current prices is roughly $56 million and $560 million, "have shown confidence during the recent downturn, consistently increasing their holdings as prices fell."
Meanwhile, wallets with less than 1 BTC "showed weak hands, with the most significant reduction in assets occurring during yesterday's market downturn," they added.
According to data compiled by Farside Investors , US-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded net outflows of $168 million on Monday, with outflows limited to GBTC Grayscale, FBTC Fidelity and ARKB 21Shares/Ark Invest, while competitors saw very modest inflows or zero performance.
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, focused on the positive, noting that outflows amounted to just 0.3% of total assets under management in the ETF. In addition, he said the largest of the spot funds, BlackRock's $18 billion IBIT, had no net outflows.
"It's a small thing," Balchunas said, referring to the overall level of flows yesterday. "Still, it's ONE day, I could see some more outflows this week. I thought a couple billion would be gone. So far it looks much stronger." $BTC
