Key Points
- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced a slowdown in net inflows as Bitcoin's price dropped after reaching a new all-time high.
- Despite the dip, interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs seems to be growing, with advisory firms approving their usage.
On Thursday, there was a noticeable decrease in net inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. This occurred as the price of Bitcoin sharply dropped after hitting a new all-time high.
Net inflows went down to $132.5 million, largely due to $257.1 million in outflows from the Grayscale's converted GBTC fund. The total net inflows since the start of spot Bitcoin ETF trading on January 11 are just under $12 billion, which equates to over 211,000 BTC.
ETF Dominance and Growing Interest
BlackRock's IBIT ETF continued to dominate inflows, adding $345.4 million. VanEck's HODL came in second, registering $13.8 million in inflows. Fidelity's FBTC spot Bitcoin ETF, usually second to IBIT, dropped to third with $13.7 million in net inflows.
Despite this dip, interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs appears to be on the rise. Cetera Financial Group, a financial advisory firm, approved the use of BlackRock's IBIT, Fidelity's FBTC, Franklin Templeton's EZBC, and Invesco's BTCO for its affiliated financial professionals' clients.
Trading Volume and Market Response
The combined daily trading volume for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs hit $7.98 billion on Thursday. This was the third-largest volume as Bitcoin's price surged before falling sharply.
BlackRock's IBIT ETF led the way, generating a trading volume of $3.92 billion. This was the fund's second-largest trading day.
Trading volume for spot Bitcoin ETFs has seen a significant increase this month, exceeding the volumes of January and February in just two weeks. The cumulative trading volume for all spot Bitcoin ETFs now stands at $135.9 billion.
Bitcoin's price hit a new all-time high of $73,836 on Thursday before a sharp sell-off led to an 11% fall to $65,566. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has since recovered slightly and is currently trading for $67,696.
This price correction led to a significant liquidation of long positions on centralized exchanges over the past 24 hours. More than $278 million in Bitcoin positions were liquidated, with the majority ($225 million) being longs.
The overall crypto market saw over $667 million in liquidated long positions during this period. This contributed to $809 million in total liquidations across various centralized exchanges.
The wider market also experienced a decline, with the GM30 index, representing the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap, falling from 162 to 154, down 5%. Similar indices for Layer 1 and Layer 2 tokens also saw a similar drawdown. Despite this, all three indices are still significantly higher than late last year.
