Bitcoin spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) in the U.S. have experienced a difficult week, marked by a substantial outflow of capital. Over the past week, these ETFs saw a combined loss of $176 million, making it the worst trading week since mid-June.
So, what exactly happened? Here is a short recap of the tumultuous week that affected Bitcoin, crypto, and the global markets.
At the beginning of the week, Bitcoin ETFs, which only launched in January, took a serious hit. On Monday alone, $168.4 million was pulled out of these funds. This wasn’t the first sign of trouble, though. Just the previous Friday, another $237.4 million had already flowed out.
A big part of this was tied to what was going on in Japan. The Nikkei 225, Japan’s main stock index, experienced its largest drop since 1987, sending shockwaves through markets worldwide. As you can imagine, this didn’t just affect traditional markets but also shook up the crypto world. On that Monday, Bitcoin itself dropped as much as 20%, hitting a low of $49,513.
Given all this, the massive outflow from Bitcoin ETFs wasn’t a huge surprise. Interestingly, as quickly as Bitcoin fell, it also began to bounce back. But the recovery wasn’t without its ups and downs. The very next day, Tuesday, saw another $148.6 million pulled from these ETFs.
By mid-week, things started to look up a bit. On Wednesday, Bitcoin ETFs managed to attract new capital, bringing in $45.1 million. Then on Thursday, as Bitcoin’s price climbed back over the $60,000 mark, even more capital flowed in—$194.6 million, to be precise.
Despite these moments of recovery, the week ended on a bit of a down note, with a final loss of $89.7 million on Friday.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin has lost almost 4% in the past 24 hours, and is trading at $58,750, which could mean a good buying opportunity again. As the new week starts, it will be interesting to see if it can get back to the all-important $60,000 level where it was trading over the weekend. Japan markets have also opened up and two hours in the day on Monday, the Nikkei index is up 0.74% compared to its close on Friday.