An unknown trader’s $1.3 billion sale of shares in BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund on Tuesday coincided with a steep fall in the price of Bitcoin, according to analysts.
A trader sold 29.2 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) at 2:30 p.m. UTC on a “dark pool,” a private trading platform that institutions often use to discreetly make large trades outside of public markets.
The impact of the $1.3 billion trade was immediately felt in the crypto market, with TradingView data showing that Bitcoin (BTC) fell 1.5% from $77,875 to $76,720 in a short 10-minute window after 2:30 p.m. UTC.
Bitcoin then slid further to a 24-hour bottom of $75,600 about 12 hours later, marking a 2.8% fall for the day.
Bitcoin has historically been viewed as an asset that trades outside of the traditional market, but products such as US-based Bitcoin ETFs have removed barriers for institutional investors to trade Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency has recently traded in high correlation with US markets.
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, said in a post to X that it was the biggest trade he has seen made through a dark pool.
Source: Alex Thorn
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas also shared that the 29.2 million IBIT shares sold at $43.16 and was over 22 times larger than the second-largest IBIT sell order on Tuesday.
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Bitcoin ETF outflow streak continues
US spot Bitcoin ETFs have now recorded eight straight trading days of net outflows, with a $333.6 million outflow on Tuesday, including a $192.4 million outflow from IBIT.
More than $2 billion has now flowed out from the ETFs since May 14, the last recorded net inflow across all the funds, a sign that institutional sentiment toward Bitcoin has weakened, with investors reducing exposure to Bitcoin ETFs at a rate faster than fresh capital flowing into the market.
Institutional market maker Jane Street reduced its Bitcoin ETF holdings by around 70% in the first quarter, while investment bank Goldman Sachs reduced its Bitcoin ETF position by 10%.
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