The appetite from ETF investors appears to be moderating based on the pace of weekly inflows.
The level of inflows and volumes for crypto funds is far lower than what was recorded in early March.
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Posted April 9, 2024 at 4:57 am EST.
It’s been a turnaround week for global crypto funds, which recorded $646 million in net inflows last week, according to data from CoinShares.
That number, coupled with the $862 million worth of inflows recorded the week prior, somewhat offset the record $942 million worth of outflows that crypto asset managers saw the week of March 25.
In fact, inflows into digital asset investment products now stand at a record $13.8 billion year to date, surpassing the $10.6 billion seen during the bull market of 2021.
Still, CoinShares’ head of research James Buterfill says there are now signs that hype driven by spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is now moderating.
He noted that the appetite from ETF investors is moderating, given that the crypto-focused funds are not achieving the weekly flow levels seen early last month, while trading volumes across these products also declined to $17.4 billion – far lower than the $43 billion recorded in the first week of March.
“Bitcoin remains the focus, seeing inflows totalling US$663m, while short-bitcoin investment products saw outflows for the 3rd week in a row totalling US$9.5m, suggesting minor capitulation amongst bearish investors,” said Butterfill.
Specifically, on the ETF front, outflows from Grayscale’s GBTC spot bitcoin ETF saw $303 million worth of outflows in the last day, outpacing the cumulative net inflows into bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark/21Shares and Bitwise.
With the halving soon approaching, some industry watchers expect the decrease in supply, coupled with strong ETF demand could lead to a surge in the price of bitcoin. Former BitMEX CEO and long-time Bitcoin advocate Arthur Hayes has predicted that the opposite will happen this time around.
“The narrative of the halving being positive for crypto prices is well entrenched,” wrote Hayes in his latest blog.
