U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their second straight day of net outflows on Thursday, erasing gains accumulated earlier in the week. A slight entry was observed on Friday, suggesting a timid return of buying interest, while bitcoin is still struggling to establish itself above $68,000.
In brief
- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $410 million in outflows on Thursday, following a similar decline the day before.
- Friday marked a slight recovery with $24 million in inflows, suggesting still limited buying interest.
- Analysts believe that BTC could fall towards $50,000, while Ethereum could drop to around $1,400 before a potential recovery.
Bitcoin ETFs See Large Outflows
Data from SoSoValue indicates that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $410.37 million in outflows on Thursday, following $276.30 million on Wednesday. Over these two sessions, cumulative withdrawals reached $686 million.
- BlackRock's IBIT recorded the largest withdrawals at $157.6 million
- Fidelity FBTC saw $104.1 million in outflows
- Grayscale's GBTC and BTC funds posted $59.1 million and $33.5 million in withdrawals, respectively, with the rest spread across other bitcoin-exposed ETFs
On Friday, a modest recovery was observedwith $24.56 million reinjected into the funds. Fidelity's FBTC captured the largest share of these inflows, at $11.99 million. Despite this occasional rebound, the trend remains fragile. According to Glassnode, the 30-day simple moving average of net flows for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs is remained negative over the last three monthsa sign of continued caution among investors. Since their launch, Bitcoin ETFs have nevertheless accumulated $54.34 billion in net inflows and now represent approximately 6.3% of the total BTC capitalization.
Analyst predicts further losses as Bitcoin struggles
Bitcoin is currently trading around $68,000, down about 45% from its all-time high. Geoffrey Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, believes the market could see further corrections before stabilizing. According to him, BTC could fall towards $50,000while Ethereum could go down to around $1,400. These levels would, according to the analyst, constitute potential buying opportunities with a view to the end-of-year objectives, set at $100,000 for bitcoin and $4,000 for Ethereum.
These projections come against a backdrop of high volatility in recent weeks. Bitcoin rose from around $87,000 to nearly $98,000 in mid-January, buoyed by a two-week rally, before falling sharply towards $60,000 in early February. This decline coincided with large outflows from bitcoin-related funds. Although a partial rebound has since been observed, the cryptocurrency is still struggling to sustainably cross the threshold of $71,000.
Options Market Shows Growing Interest and Volatility
As bitcoin moves through a consolidation phase, open interest in BTC options continues to rise, approaching levels reached at the end of Q4 2025. According to Glassnode, this open interest increased to 452,000 BTCup from 255,000 BTC after the December 26 expiration. Meanwhile, the implied volatility of one- and three-month at-the-money (ATM) options has increased by around 10 percentage points in recent weeks, suggesting that traders are anticipating stronger price movements in the near term.
Despite recent outflows and rising volatility, the overall picture for Bitcoin ETFs remains significant. These funds continue to represent a significant portion of the market, and any changes in investor sentiment or inflows could have a notable impact on the trajectory of bitcoin's price.
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