Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds have experienced a sustained period of outflows, signaling a pullback by institutional investors, according to analytics firm Glassnode.
Glassnode said on Tuesday that the 30-day simple moving average of net flows into US spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs has been negative since early November.
“This persistence points to a phase of subdued participation and partial disengagement among institutional allocators, reinforcing the broader contraction in crypto market liquidity,” the firm noted.
Crypto ETF flows typically lag spot market movements, and Bitcoin and Ether prices have been trending lower since mid-October.
Often viewed as a proxy for institutional sentiment, ETFs have been a key market driver for much of the year but now appear to reflect a more bearish stance as overall market conditions weaken.
Selling pressure has returned to crypto exchange-traded funds, with aggregate Bitcoin ETF flows remaining negative for four consecutive trading days, according to Coinglass. Despite the broader outflows, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded modest inflows over the past week.
The Kobeissi Letter said on Tuesday that crypto ETF selling has resumed, noting that crypto funds saw $952 million in outflows last week. Investors have now pulled capital from crypto funds in six of the past ten weeks.
Even so, BlackRock’s market-leading IBIT continues to dominate the sector, attracting $62.5 billion in inflows since launch—far surpassing all competing spot Bitcoin ETFs.
IBIT outpaces gold ETF flows
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on Saturday that IBIT is the only fund on Bloomberg’s 2025 Flow Leaderboard with a negative year-to-date return.
“The key takeaway is that it still ranked sixth despite the negative performance,” Balchunas said.
He added that BlackRock’s flagship Bitcoin ETF has even drawn more inflows than SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), which is up 64% over the same period.
“That’s a really good sign long term IMO. If you can do $25 billion in a bad year, imagine the flow potential in a good year.”
