Spot Bitcoin ETF outflows total $2.9B as BTC price drops to new 2026 low

2 hours ago

Key takeaways:

Heavy outflows from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and monolithic liquidations amusement that the marketplace is purging highly leveraged buyers.
Bitcoin options metrics uncover that pro traders are hedging for further terms drops amid a tech banal sell-off.

Bitcoin (BTC) slid beneath $73,000 connected Wednesday aft concisely retesting the $79,500 level connected Tuesday. This downturn mirrored a diminution successful the tech-heavy Nasdaq Index, driven by a anemic income outlook from chipmaker AMD (AMD US) and disappointing United States employment data.

Traders present fearfulness further Bitcoin terms unit arsenic spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded implicit $2.9 cardinal successful outflows crossed 12 trading days.

The mean $243 cardinal regular nett outflow from the US-listed Bitcoin ETFs since Jan. 16 astir coincides with Bitcoin’s rejection astatine $98,000 connected Jan. 14. The consequent 26% correction implicit 3 weeks triggered $3.25 cardinal successful liquidations for leveraged agelong BTC futures. Unless buyers deposited further margin, immoderate leverage exceeding 4x has already been wiped out.

Some marketplace participants blamed the caller clang connected the lingering aftermath of the $19 cardinal liquidation connected Oct. 10, 2025. That incidental was reportedly triggered by a show glitch successful database queries astatine Binance exchange, resulting successful delayed transfers and incorrect information feeds. The speech admitted responsibility and disbursed implicit $283 cardinal successful compensation to affected users.

According to Haseeb Qureshi, managing spouse astatine Dragonfly, immense liquidations astatine Binance “could not get filled, but liquidation engines support firing regardless. This caused marketplace makers to get wiped out, and they were incapable to prime up the pieces.” Qureshi added that the October 2025 clang did not permanently “break the market,” but noted that marketplace makers “will request clip to recover.”

The investigation suggests that cryptocurrency exchanges’ liquidation mechanisms “are not designed to beryllium self-stabilizing the mode that TradFi mechanisms are (circuit breakers, etc.)” and alternatively absorption solely connected minimizing insolvency risks. Qureshi notes that cryptocurrencies are a “long series” of “bad things” happening, but historically, the marketplace yet recovers.

BTC options skew signals traders uncertainty $72,100 bottom

To find if nonrecreational traders flipped bearish aft the crash, 1 should measure BTC options markets. During periods of stress, request for enactment (sell) instruments surges, pushing the delta skew metric supra the 6% neutral threshold. Excess request for downside extortion typically signals a deficiency of assurance from bulls.

The BTC options delta skew reached 13% connected Wednesday, a wide denotation that nonrecreational traders are not convinced Bitcoin’s terms has recovered a bottommost astatine $72,100. This skepticism stems partially from fears that the tech assemblage could endure from accrued contention arsenic Google (GOOG US) and AMD rotation retired proprietary artificial quality chips.

Another root of discomfort for Bitcoin holders involves 2 unrelated and unfounded rumors. First, a $9 cardinal Bitcoin sale by a Galaxy Digital lawsuit successful 2025 was antecedently attributed to quantum computing risks. However, Alex Thorn, Galaxy's caput of research, denied those rumors successful an X station connected Tuesday.

The 2nd speculation involves Binance’s solvency, which gained traction aft the speech faced method issues that temporarily halted withdrawals connected Tuesday. Current onchain metrics suggest that Bitcoin deposits astatine Binance stay comparatively stable.

Given the existent uncertainty successful macroeconomic trends, galore traders person opted to exit cryptocurrency markets. This displacement makes it hard to foretell whether Bitcoin spot ETF outflows volition proceed to use downward unit connected the price.

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