The exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for Bitcoin and Ether have experienced a significant and ongoing trend of outflows, suggesting that institutional investors are retreating from the crypto space, according to the analytics platform Glassnode.
Since early November, the 30-day simple moving average of net flows into US spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs has gone negative, Glassnode reported on Tuesday.
“This ongoing trend highlights a period of reduced participation and a partial withdrawal from institutional investors, which reinforces the overall liquidity contraction in the crypto market,” it stated.
Crypto ETF flows typically lag behind the spot markets for these tokens, which have been on a downward trend since mid-October.
The ETFs serve as a key indicator of institutional sentiment, which has influenced the market for much of this year but appears to have turned bearish as the broader market has shrunk.
Crypto ETF Selling Pressure Resumes
Coinglass reported that overall Bitcoin ETF flows have shown negative results for four consecutive trading days. Nevertheless, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has seen slight inflows over the past week.
“The selling pressure for crypto ETFs has returned,” the Kobeissi Letter stated on Tuesday. It highlighted that crypto funds experienced $952 million in outflows last week, with investors pulling capital in six out of the last ten weeks.
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Despite the recent outflows, BlackRock’s leading fund has attracted $62.5 billion in inflows since its inception, surpassing all competing spot Bitcoin ETFs.
IBIT Surpasses Gold in Flow
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted on Saturday that IBIT is the only ETF on Bloomberg’s “2025 Flow Leaderboard” recording a negative return for the year.
“The key takeaway is that it secured sixth place despite the negative return,” he remarked.
Balchunas indicated that BlackRock’s flagship Bitcoin fund outperformed the SPDR Gold Shares fund (GLD), which has risen by 64%.
“That’s a really positive indicator for the long term, in my opinion. If it can achieve $25 billion in a down year, envision the flow potential in a robust year.”
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