According to Blockworks: US bitcoin ETFs witnessed an unusual wave of net outflows each day over the previous week. The 10 spot bitcoin ETFs saw $888 million leave across five days, as per BitMEX Research data, marking a first for the so far successful arena. This outflow was notably large on March 19 and 20, reporting $326 million and $262 million, respectively.
Although net outflows slowed towards the latter part of the week, BlackRockâs iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded its lowest ever daily flow total of $19 million on Friday.
Despite the outflow, both the IBIT and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF have notably registered net inflows for each of their first 50 days trading - a record among new ETFs.
This outflow run comes hot on the heels of a historical week for the funds, wherein they recorded $2.5 billion in net inflows. However, during the same period, Bitcoin's price plunged by over 10% from nearly $68,000 on March 18 to less than $61,000.
Weighing in on the matter, James Butterfill, Head of Research at CoinShares, suggested that the recent price correction likely caused investor hesitation, resulting in lower inflows into new ETF issuers in the US.
Focusing on Grayscale Investments, which converted its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to an ETF on January 11, outflows there reached about $2 billion. These outflows were not entirely offset by the other nine funds, which collectively accounted for approximately $1.1 billion net inflows.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart suggested that these outflows may have been partly stimulated by bankrupt lender Genesis selling its GBTC shares. He added that this activity is expected to slow in the coming week.