A massive $1.3 billion sell-off in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF on Tuesday led to an immediate drop in Bitcoin price. According to analysts, an unnamed investor disposed of 29.2 million shares in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) via a private platform at 14:30 UTC.
Huge Sales and Impact on the Market
The sale in question took place in a private market called “dark pool”, where institutional investors can make large transactions without being publicly available. According to TradingView data, the Bitcoin price dropped by 1.5% from $ 77,875 to $ 76,720 in just 10 minutes after this transaction.
Bitcoin faced selling pressure for the rest of the day and fell to $75,600 after about 12 hours. Thus, it finished the day with a total loss of 2.8%.
The sale of 29.2 million shares in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF was recorded as one of the largest single “dark pool” transactions ever made in the market. Alex Thorn, Galaxy Digital’s research unit manager, stated that this is the first time he has seen a transaction of this size in the dark pool.
Net Outflows in ETFs
Outflows in US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs continued for the eighth consecutive trading day. On Tuesday alone, there was a total outflow of 333.6 million dollars, of which 192.4 million dollars came from IBIT. In total, over $2 billion has been withdrawn from ETFs since May 14.
In the same period, it was noted that institutional investors’ interest in Bitcoin ETFs decreased. This trend means that new capital coming into the market lags behind capital leaving.
| ETF Name | Net Outflow on Tuesday ($) | Last 8 Days Total Outflow ($) |
|---|---|---|
| IBIT (BlackRock) | 192,400,000 | No data |
| All US Bitcoin ETFs | 333,600,000 | 2,000,000,000+ |
Mini dictionary: Dark pool is a private, non-public exchange platform where large investors can make large trades without directly affecting the market. Transactions made here are usually reported to market participants in bulk later.
Decrease in Institutions’ Positions
Outflows in the corporate market were also seen in important financial companies. US market maker Jane Street reduced its Bitcoin ETF portfolio by approximately 70% in the first quarter of the year. Goldman Sachs reduced its Bitcoin ETF position by 10%.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas shared that the 29.2 million shares sold in a single item at IBIT on Tuesday were 22 times the size of the second largest sell order of that day.
Bitcoin ETFs and Correlation with the Traditional Market
While Bitcoin has stood out as an asset independent of traditional finance for years, it has recently attracted more attention from institutional investors thanks to ETF products traded in the USA. This change causes cryptocurrency prices to move closely with US stock markets and can cause sudden fluctuations in the market in a short time.
