- The Spot Bitcoin ETF market has continued to show dynamic trends in inflow and outflow.
- Grayscale’s GBTC and BlackRock’s IBIT remains the market leaders.
The crypto market experienced a fascinating divergence on Thursday following a notable trend of outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), contrasted by record-breaking inflows of $400 million into Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).
Grayscale GBTC Outflows vs. Bitcoin ETF Inflows
Recent data from Farside Investors reveals that GBTC saw outflows of $102 million on Thursday, after experiencing two days of outflows under $100 million. This brings the cumulative total of net outflows to a staggering $6.3 billion.
Concurrently, inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs soared to unprecedented levels, reaching $403 million on the same day. Leading the charge in the influx into spot Bitcoin ETFs were BlackRock (IBIT) and Fidelity (FBTC), with total inflows of over $204 million and nearly $128 million respectively. These two industry giants have consistently dominated the market since the inception of Bitcoin ETFs, accumulating net inflows totaling $3.5 billion and $2.8 billion respectively.
James Seyffart, renowned ETF analyst at Bloomberg, noted, “Solid volumes all around today but $IBIT topped the group,” highlighting the impressive performance of BlackRock’s IBIT ETF. Bitwise’s BITB ETF also made notable strides with a net inflow of $60 million, its best day since January 17th. ARKB from Ark Investment followed suit with $86 million in net inflows, surpassing the $750 million total net inflow mark.
Solid volumes all around today but $IBIT topped the group. pic.twitter.com/S8R5IbCyC4
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) February 8, 2024
Despite GBTC outflows, the overall sentiment remained optimistic, with total net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs reaching $2.1 billion.
Bitcoin Price Surges
The surge in ETF inflows coincided with Bitcoin’s rally beyond the $46,000 mark, indicating a strong correlation between ETF activity and Bitcoin price movements. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $46,603, up by 4.3% in the past day, with a market cap of $914.9 billion and a trading volume of $29.4 billion.
Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets, anticipates Bitcoin’s upward trajectory to continue following the slowdown in Grayscale outflows. She emphasizes the upcoming “halving” event scheduled for April as a potential catalyst for Bitcoin’s rise, with price projections exceeding $50,000 in the near term.
Also, renowned analyst Michael van de Poppe echoes this sentiment, suggesting a bullish outlook for Bitcoin, with long-term price targets potentially reaching $500,000.
Jan Happel and Yann Allemann, founders of market-leading on-chain data insight platform Glassnode, joined others in predicting a new Bitcoin record high in the current bull cycle, pointing to factors such as the dollar index (DXY) bottoming around July, potentially pushing Bitcoin to $120,000.
Recent data also indicates bullish signals for Bitcoin, with the BTC futures premium hitting its highest point in three weeks on February 8th, and the BTC options’ 25% skew entering bullish territory for the first time in two months. These metrics suggest moderate optimism and provide support for Bitcoin to maintain its $45,000 support level despite concerns about deteriorating macroeconomic conditions.
