In brief
- Bitcoin ETFs recorded $645 million in outflows across two days, with Fidelity’s FBTC leading redemptions Tuesday at $246.9 million.
- Analysts attributed the outflows to investors de-risking ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s Jackson Hole speech.
- The selloff reverses a $4.7 billion inflow streak from mid-July to early August, though analysts characterize the movement as tactical positioning rather than institutional capitulation.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds bled $645 million over two trading sessions as institutional investors pulled capital from crypto markets, a major reversal since the digital asset’s summer rally began stalling.
Bitcoin ETFs saw $121.7 million in outflows on Monday and $523.3 million on Tuesday according to Farside Investors data, while Ethereum funds mirrored the weakness with $196.6 million and $422.2 million withdrawn on the same days.
Fidelity’s FBTC led the exodus with $246.9 million in redemptions, while Grayscale’s GBTC shed $115.5 million and Bitwise’s BITB lost $86.8 million across the two-day period.
Investors derisking ahead of Powell speech
Illia Otychenko, lead analyst at CEX.IO, told Decrypt that spot Bitcoin ETFs are seeing outflows as investors “scale back risk ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting and Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday.”
The latest withdrawals break momentum from mid-July through early August, when Bitcoin ETFs saw $4.7 billion in inflows at roughly $135 million a day.
Otychenko attributed the selling to weak job growth combined with mixed inflation data that “left the Fed in a difficult spot, leaving the markets more uncertain about the path of future rate cuts.”
Net Taker Volume, which tracks whether buyers or sellers dominate exchange activity, plummeted to its “lowest point since December 2021,” indicating widespread selling pressure, he said.
The analyst noted that Bitcoin’s rallies since March have followed a weakening pattern, with “each breakout weaker, with smaller price moves and lighter trading volume.”
Dean Chen, analyst at Bitunix, shared similar sentiment, telling Decrypt the outflows stem from two main drivers: macro de-risking as “U.S. PPI came in hotter than expected” and issuer-level profit taking ahead of Powell’s Jackson Hole speech.
He noted that BlackRock’s IBIT recorded zero flow, which “tells us this is more tactical de-risking than broad institutional exit.”
Konstantin Anissimov, global CEO of Currency.com, also remarked to Decrypt the outflows represent “a broad de-risking move rather than a problem with any single ETF.”
He pointed out that redemptions shifted from BlackRock and ARK on Monday to Fidelity, Grayscale, and Bitwise the following day, showing “investors across the board are taking some chips off the table.”
Despite the substantial ETF outflows, Bitcoin’s price is down just 1.5% on the day according to CoinGecko data, which Anissimov attributed to buyers using “$32 billion in stablecoin cash sitting on exchanges” to absorb the selling.
He characterized institutional sentiment as “cautious right now, but not panicked,” calling the movement “short-term profit-taking” rather than a fundamental shift.
Markets now enter a critical waiting period as Powell’s address approaches, with institutional flows likely to remain volatile until monetary policy clarity emerges.
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