Bitcoin ETFs See End-of-Year Bleeding With $387M Outflows

Spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) registered their first red weekly performance in a month during Christmas Week, their worst performance since September. However, analysts noted that the ETF industry saw its best year yet.

Bitcoin ETFs Receive Charcoal For Christmas

As the year ends, Bitcoin ETFs have registered their worst weekly performance in three months. From December 23 to December 27, the crypto-based investment products saw significant outflows, recording three red days last week.

BTC ETFs started the week with 564.94 million negative net flow between the first two days, with positive activity briefly picking up on December 26. During the momentary Christmas rally, which saw Bitcoin surge back to the $98,000-$99,000 price range, the BTC investment products recorded $475.5 million in inflows, its best-performing day since the negative streak started.

However, Friday’s $297.75 million outflows halted the positive momentum, bringing last week’s total outflows to $862.69 million. As a result, Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net negative volume worth $387.54 million during 2024’s last week.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs see first negative week since November. Source: SoSoValue

Fidelity’s FBTC was the week’s biggest loser, with $208 million in outflows on Friday, which was its second-worst single-day performance this month. It was followed by BlackRock’s IBIT, which saw a negative net flow of $188.7 million.

Meanwhile, ARK 21Shares’s ARKB recorded the second-largest inflows of the past seven days, closing the week with $186.9 million. Last week, FBTC also registered its best performance of the month and the largest inflows of all the funds, with $254.4 million on Thursday.

Best-Performing Year For ETFs

It’s worth noting that investment products have been recording substantial outflows for the past two weeks, breaking a 15-day inflow streak that saw BTC ETFs’ total net assets surge from $100 billion to $120 billion.

ETF expert and Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas noted that spot Bitcoin ETFs’ total net assets neared gold ETFs’ $128 billion by December 17. He also pointed out that the crypto-based products have had an “unreal” performance to be “even discussing them being this close” after only 11 months.

According to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin ETFs’ total outflows have surpassed $1.8 billion, and total net assets have decreased to $106.68 billion since the negative performance started.

Despite the recent performance, Matthew Bartolini, Head of SPDR Americas Research at State Street Global Advisors, told FOX Business that the global ETF industry is “wrapping up its best year ever.”

The report highlighted this year’s rise in active funds and investors “clamor” for the new crypto-based investment products. Sumit Roy, senior ETF analyst for ETF.com, asserted that the launch of the new ETFs was one of the reasons for this year’s remarkable performance.

 Another reason has to do with the launch of crypto ETFs. You’ve seen Spot Bitcoin ETFs now pop up in January, inflows have just been insane.

Balchunas previously noted that the BTC ETFs are “the primer vehicle” for traditional investors and a “disruptive powerhouse” that has “a lot of spiritual connection” with Bitcoin, which makes the investment products a “strong long-term combination.”

The analyst emphasized that the spot BTC ETFs “held “real thought” throughout the “couple of downturns” seen this year and suggested that they would continue to surpass expectations despite some negative streaks.

Notably, spot Bitcoin ETFs have surpassed all expectations this year, recording $35.65 billion in positive net flows throughout 2024, according to Farside Invest data.

Bitcoin's performance in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView

Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com