Over the holiday season, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had notable outflows; BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) topped the trend. Exceeding its previous high of $72.7 million established earlier in the week, IBIT suffered its biggest-ever single-day outflow of $188.7 million on December 24. Total outflows from all Bitcoin ETFs housed in the United States on Christmas Eve exceeded $338.4 million, therefore contributing to a $1.5 billion outflow over four trading days.
Other popular Bitcoin ETFs, like ARK 21Shares and Fidelity, experienced withdrawals of $75 million and $83.2 million, respectively. Still, the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF bucked the trend and attracted $8.5 million over this period. While Bitcoin ETFs lagged, Ethereum-oriented ETFs showed resilience with two days of inflows before Christmas. Adding $53.6 million on December 24, Ether ETFs followed a $130.8 million influx the day before. As investors diversify their portfolios, this momentum captures the growing curiosity in Ethereum and altcoins.
Since late November, Ethereum ETFs have been gathering popularity with an astounding 18-day run of inflows ending on December 18. Based on the ETH/BTC ratio—which gauges Ethereum’s relative strength to Bitcoin—analysts predict Ethereum will surpass Bitcoin in the next months.
Bitcoin is selling at over $98,000 as the end of the year draws near, up 4% in the past 24 hours. However, a 24% drop in trading activity indicates traders’ prudence, given the significant expiration of BTC options. The constant changes in ETF flows and market mood point to possible difficulties for Bitcoin’s leading position in the not-too-distant future.
Ethereum is becoming more and more popular, and altcoins are drawing investor interest, so the new year’s cryptocurrency market looks to be rather interesting.
