Yesterday, US investors seemed to be in a bit of a retreat mode.
Just before the much-talked-about US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, folks were going wild grabbing up spot Bitcoin ETFs like they were the last cupcakes at a party. Everyone was buzzing, expecting the central bank to lower interest rates.
But when the big day actually rolled around, things took a turn.
For four days leading up to the meeting, investors had pumped over $500 million into 11 different spot Bitcoin ETFs from September 12 to September 17. The excitement was palpable.
However, despite the Federal Reserve cutting key interest rates by a surprising 50 basis points (most people were only expecting a 0.25% cut), the mood shifted. Suddenly, there was a net outflow of $52.7 million from these financial vehicles in just one day.
Leading the pack in this exodus was Ark Invest’s ARKB, with a whopping $43.4 million in withdrawals. Grayscale’s largest fund, GBTC, wasn’t far behind, losing $8.1 million, followed by BITB with $3.9 million in outflows. The rest of the ETFs barely saw any movement, though Grayscale’s newer fund, BTC, managed to attract $2.7 million in inflows.
BlackRock’s IBIT remains the heavyweight champion, boasting almost $21 billion in assets under management. But here’s the kicker: it’s seen only one day of positive flow in the past three weeks.
Meanwhile, Fidelity’s FBTC was enjoying a seven-day winning streak of net inflows before yesterday’s quiet spell.
While Bitcoin ETFs were basking in the glow of over $500 million in net inflows leading up to the Fed’s decision, Ethereum’s counterparts weren’t so lucky. Investors yanked $15.1 million on Tuesday and $9.4 million on Monday from these products.
And it didn’t get much better yesterday, with $9.8 million being pulled out overall from ETH-based products. Grayscale’s ETHE once again led the pack in net outflows, losing $14.7 million.
The only glimmer of hope came from BlackRock’s EHTA, which saw $4.9 million in net inflows. EHTA is a rising star, having already crossed the $1 billion milestone since its launch a few months ago.
Despite the rollercoaster for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, the prices of the underlying assets shot up to multi-week highs. BTC almost touched $63,000 earlier today, and ETH got close to $2,450.
