BlackRock’s IBIT Sees Record $523M Daily Outflow From Alpha Bitcoin ETF

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) exchange-traded fund reported $523 million in net outflows on November 18, marking the largest single-day redemptions from the BTC-backed funds since its debut on Wall Street in January 2024.

The ETF has witnessed large-scale redemptions for five consecutive trading days, signaling a broader institutional rebalancing amid extreme market volatility. Major asset managers like BlackRock have been moving their bitcoins to exchanges as clients sought to reduce their exposure to risk assets.

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Records Largest Daily Outflow of $523.15 Million as Investors Rebalance Portfolios Amid Tightening Liquidity and Macro Uncertainty

According to data provided by SoSoValue, IBIT saw a total of $523.15 million exit the market, surpassing its previous single-day outflow record of $463 million, set on November 14. Over the past seven days, the ETF has logged $1.43 billion in redemptions, while posting four straight weeks of net outflows, totalling $2.19 billion.

So far this month, more than $3 billion has been withdrawn from the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs currently trading in the U.S., with nearly $2 billion of that total coming from IBIT.

IBIT, which is the world’s latest spot Bitcoin ETF, holding more than $72 billion in assets and attracting around $26 billion in inflows this year alone, has been experiencing negative flows since late October.

Its outflow trend coincides with the recent decline in bitcoin’s price, especially following the October 10 liquidation event that erased roughly $19 billion in leveraged crypto positions, a shock from which the market is yet to recover.

Earlier this week, bitcoin fell 30% from its October all-time high of $126,080 to trade below $90,000 for the first time since April 2025. The recent wave of crypto ETF redemptions has fueled concerns that institutional appetite for risk assets is cooling amid growing macro uncertainty. 

Weaker U.S. Labor Market and Uncertainty Surrounding Fed Rate Cuts Have Made Investors Less Bullish on Bitcoin

Speaking to Bloomberg, Pepperstone research analyst Dilin Wu said that bitcoin ETF outflows and long-term bitcoin holders’ sales have tightened market liquidity, pushing prices lower, while highlighting weakening investor confidence. 

Sean Dawson, head of research at Derive, noted that bitcoin options traders have also taken more defensive positions, with a growing number of participants buying protection against prices falling to the $80,000 range by late December.

He believes with ongoing concerns about the resilience of the U.S. jobs market and the lower probability of a December rate cut by the Federal Reserve, there is little in the macro backdrop giving investors a reason to stay bullish on bitcoin till the end of the year.

Last week, crypto investment products suffered their heaviest weekly outflows since February 2025, with $2 billion exiting the market. This slump aligns with sharp price declines across major cryptocurrencies, pushing the total assets under management (AUM) in crypto ETPs down 27%, from their early-October peak of $264 billion to $191 billion as of November 18.

While U.S.-based products accounted for the majority of the outflows at $1.97 billion, their Swiss and Hong Kong counterparts recorded $39.9 million and $12.3 million in outflows, respectively.

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CME FedWatch Tool Suggests 48% Chance of a 25 bps Rate Cut in December

Despite the recent liquidations, Vincent Liu, CIO at Kronos Research, said that institutional investors are not abandoning bitcoin, but rather rebalancing their portfolios. He noted that record-high outflows from IBIT are a signal of “institutional recalibration, not capitulation,” with larger investors trimming their risk exposure and testing entry points until the macro signals “turn clear”.

He is confident that when institutional traders return to the market, risk-on appetite and allocation will follow in lockstep.

The bitcoin and broader crypto market have been suffering from reduced liquidity mainly due to the extent of the U.S. government shutdown, which lasted for a record 41 days, and uncertainty over the Fed’s interest rate decision next month.

Analysts are hopeful that liquidity may return to the market slowly as the federal government returns to full capacity, while the rate cut decision remains the single-most important catalyst heading into the new year. The CME FedWatch Tool’s odds for a 25-basis-point (bps) cut by the Fed in December currently stand at 48.9%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $91,471 – up 0.26% in the 24 hours.

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