Bitcoin (BTC) Drops Under $59K as BTC Demand Wanes, BlackRock's IBIT Logs Outflows for the Second Time

U.S.-listed BTC ETFs recorded $71 million in net outflows on Thursday for the third consecutive day, SoSoValue data shows, in a sign of professional funds

Bitcoin (BTC) continued a week-long slide to under $59,000 early Friday, with major exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recording net outflows amid signs of waning demand.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency slid just over 1% in the past 24 hours to trade at $58,833 by 02:30 ET (06:30 UTC), bringing weekly losses to over 3.5% and on track to end August at an 8% haircut (with one day to go).

Bitcoin demand growth has remained low and even turned negative in recent weeks, as previously reported. Now, ETF investors appeared to be pulling the plug on their BTC holdings for the third day in a row.

U.S.-listed BTC ETFs recorded $71 million in net outflows on Thursday, data from financial markets data firm SoSoValue showed. This followed outflows of $113 million and $133 million on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

The biggest losers on Thursday were Fidelity’s FBTC at $31 million and Grayscale’s GBTC at $22 million. However, a shock move for traders came as BlackRock’s IBIT – the world’s largest bitcoin fund by assets under management – recorded outflows of $13 million for the second time ever.

Meanwhile, exchange data showed a bump in demand from U.S. retail investors as the bitcoin price premium on the Coinbase exchange increased to its highest level since July, on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant stated in a Thursday report.

“Coinbase premium is back at its highest since July,” the firm noted, adding that the metric usually signals higher demand from U.S. investors, a condition that has historically been correlated with higher prices.

On the other hand, traders expect market volatility to pick up in the coming weeks. BTC has largely traded sideways in the past week despite favorable rate cut signals and endorsements from Republican candidate Donald Trump – which have impacted sentiment for the broader crypto market.

“Crypto had an uneventful week as BTC and ETH hovered around +/- 1.5% compared to last week's levels. ETF inflows remain subdued,” Augustine Fan, head of insights at SOFA, said in a weekly note to clients.

“We expect market action to pick up after US Labour Day and into next week's NFP to kickstart a busy Fall season, and political headlines to start gaining importance, particularly with the latest Harris/Walz announced plans to raise taxes aggressively.”

It’s a view shared by traders at Singapore-based QCP Capital, who said in a Telegram broadcast that they expect price action to remain choppy even as market volatility may continue.

“Risk reversals until Oct are still skewed towards puts in both BTC and ETH, indicating that the market remains cautious about the downside,” QCP stated. “In the lead-up to next week’s non-farm payroll report, we expect market volatility to continue its downtrend as the market positions itself for potential rate cuts by the Fed.”

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has confirmed a pivot to lower borrowing costs next month, as previously reported. Such steps have historically buoyed bullish sentiment among traders as cheap access to money spurts growth in riskier sectors.

“With the absence of any catalysts in the near term, we anticipate prices to continue chopping within the range as we move into September,” QCP added.

The above is the detailed content of Bitcoin (BTC) Drops Under $59K as BTC Demand Wanes, BlackRock's IBIT Logs Outflows for the Second Time. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!