Spot Bitcoin ETFs lose $1.257 billion in a week – What’s going on?
Was it the price that pulled the ETF from inflows to outflows, or did the ETF itself cause the price to decline?
Last week, net outflows from spot Bitcoin [BTC] ETFs totaled $1.257 billion. The last time such a week-long outflow trend occurred was in December 2025.
On the 18th of May, Bitcoin ETFs saw outflows totaling $648.6 billion, with BlackRock’s IBIT experiencing the largest outflows at $448.4 million.
Bitwise’s BITB, Invesco’s BTCO, Franklin Templeton’s EZBC, VanEck’s HODL, and Fidelity’s FBTC were among the other asset managers that recorded outflows.
For the others, there were no flows.
Did other days of the week also record these huge outflows?
Despite a decrease in outflows on the 19th of May, the total outflows for BTC ETFs still reached $331.1 million, wherein IBIT recorded outflows of $325.6 million.
The remaining asset managers saw no flows, while two other asset managers saw only slight outflows. A similar trend was observed on the 20th and 22nd of May, when outflows of $70.5 million and $105.2 million, respectively, were recorded.
However, on the 21st of May, only IBIT experienced outflows of $103.7 million, while ARKB was the only entity to record inflows of $2.8 million.
What is the price action telling us?
Looking at the price data, it appears that the ETFs’ outflow was what caused the price of Bitcoin to drop from $78,000 to $76,000.
However, the price managed to keep up its momentum and avoided dropping below the $75,000 support level despite this decline. The price remained stable even after US President Donald Trump’s announcement on the Iran peace agreement.
This indicated that the price decline was a passing fad rather than a long-term trend.
The fact that Bitcoin was trading at $77,383.00 at the time of writing indicates that the bullish momentum is already returning.
Other ETF analysis
While the Ethereum [ETH] ETF trailed the BTC ETF, its outflow was not limited to a single week. Rather, the ETH ETF saw outflows from the 11th to the 22nd of May.
The two-week outflow streak caused $471.2 million in ETH ETF outflows, with $216 million of those outflows occurring in the last week alone.
In contrast, spot XRP ETFs saw net inflows of $22.04 million, while Solana [SOL] ETF and XRP ETF SOL ETFs reported net inflows of $15.63 million. Additionally, spot Hyperliquid [HYPE] ETFs, which are relatively new to the market, saw $72.38 million in net inflows.
This coincided with the SEC delaying the release of prediction market ETFs, as previously reported by AMBCrypto.
Final Summary
- Spot Bitcoin ETF saw a week full of outflows, with BlackRock’s IBIT recording the maximum outflows in the past week.
- Spot Ethereum ETF followed Bitcoin’s pattern, but other altcoin ETFs took a route of inflows.
