Bitcoin was trading at $75,900 on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve’s latest rate decision sent a chill through crypto markets, capping three straight days of withdrawals from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds that together erased more than $490 million. Related Reading: Trump’s Bitcoin Reserve Could Be Near As White House Signals Major Update Fidelity And BlackRock Lead The Exodus Fidelity’s FBTC took the heaviest hit, shedding $191 million over the period. BlackRock’s IBIT — the largest spot Bitcoin ETF by assets under management — wasn’t far behind, with close to $167 million flowing out. Ark Invest’s ARKB recorded another $73.3 million in withdrawals. The selling was spread across the week: Monday saw the worst single-day figure at $263 million, followed by $89.7 million on Tuesday, and $137.6 million on Wednesday — the day the Fed announced its decision. The outflows came right on the heels of a strong stretch. According to reports, Bitcoin ETFs had pulled in steady money for nine consecutive days before the streak snapped, with total inflows during that run reaching a little over $2 billion. Last week alone brought in almost $824 million. The reversal was sharp. Fed Holds Firm, Markets Respond The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 3.50%–3.75% for the third meeting in a row. Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave no hint of cuts ahead. No softer tone on inflation. No signal of easier financial conditions on the horizon. That message landed hard on risk assets, and Bitcoin felt it quickly. At the same time, rising tensions between the US and Iran added to the unease. Reports indicate that US President Donald Trump warned the Strait of Hormuz could be blocked if Iran does not stand down. Global markets were already on edge, and that kind of geopolitical pressure tends to push investors toward the exits. Meanwhile, fear has returned to the crypto market, with the Crypto Fear and Greed Index falling back into the “Fear” zone as investors grow cautious amid macro uncertainty and continued Bitcoin ETF outflows. What Comes Next For Bitcoin Bitcoin had bounced back from a low near $74,000 earlier in the month, briefly pushing toward $80,000 before this week’s pullback. With ETF outflows continuing, that $75,000 level is again in focus as a potential support test. Related Reading: Bitcoin Bull Run Brewing: ATH In Sight By Late 2026: Analyst Data shows Bitcoin dropped about 3% following the Fed’s announcement. Some traders still expect a recovery toward the $85,000–$88,000 range in May, though that outlook depends heavily on whether macro conditions hold steady. For now, the momentum that built over nine days of inflows has stalled. The question is whether it restarts — or fades further. Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
Robinhood's stock closed down 13.2% after the company reported weaker first-quarter earnings the previous day.
Analysts weighed bitcoin's bullish momentum against growing policy and geopolitical caution after ETF flows reversed amid a key macro week.
"Tokenization is that it will become part of the ETF ecosystem, but we’re a couple of years away from some good use cases,” said the bank.
Spot bitcoin ETFs logged $223.2 million in net inflows on Thursday, led by $167.5 million into BlackRock's IBIT.
“Flows have turned positive for the year,” Global Head of ETFs at BNY Asset Servicing Ben Slavin told The Block.
Core3 marks GSR's first crypto ETF offering amid a period of expansion for the major market maker and the wider crypto fund sector.
Morgan Stanley's MSBT logged a weekly net inflow of $71 million in the first full trading week since its debut.
A recent on-chain analysis suggests that Bitcoin is once again showing divergence across its investor cohorts, specifically between institutional players and retail investors. According to this analysis, the Bitcoin price may have more room for growth than we have seen so far in this cycle. Related Reading: Bitcoin Breakout Confirmed, But Is It Real Or A Bull Trap? Bitcoin ETF Flows Align With Coinbase Premium Index Readings In a recent Quicktake post on the CryptoQuant platform, crypto research and education firm XWIN Research Japan delves into the dynamics of the Bitcoin market noting that a crucial structural shift is emerging. The relevant indicators in this analysis are the Total Bitcoin Spot ETF Net Inflows, the Coinbase Premium Index, and the Fear & Greed metrics. The ETF inflows measure the net amount of Bitcoin moving into or out of Spot ETFs; the Coinbase Premium tracks the price difference between Coinbase and other exchanges. According to the XWIN Research Japan, ETF Flows and the Coinbase Premium at (~0.56)are displaying a positive correlation signalling aligning inflows with spot demand. However, XWIN Research Japan points to an important distinction: institutional buying actually precedes ETF inflows, not the other way around, as is popularly believed. Hence, the rising values from Coinbase Premium which signal that US investors are buying again, and are the essential drivers of Bitcoin’s price. Related Reading: XRP Expansion Into Solana Sparks Fresh Demand, Ripple CEO Says Fear And Greed Index Reveals Persistent Retail Fear On the contrary, the analytics group notes that the Fear & Greed index is telling a less optimistic story. The experts highlight that the index remains quite low, with readings still within the range of 10-30, indicating that retailers are still outside the action. This “sidelining” of retailers might have roots in the recent losses they incurred, while institutional investors continue to accumulate due to “flow and structure.” Therefore, this behavior creates the classic “Wall of Worry” rally, in which a cryptocurrency’s price (Bitcoin, in this case) rises despite widespread market skepticism. Thus, XWIN Research Japan explains that this could ultimately mean the market is in the early or even mid phase of an “institutional-led uptrend,” in which retail participation is exempt from the factors actively driving prices. In a scenario where retail activity picks up with predominantly bullish intent, the premier cryptocurrency could be in for further upside. As of press time, Bitcoin is valued at $75,703, with CoinMarketCap data showing the world’s leading cryptocurrency has lost 2.24% of its value over the past day. Featured image from PickPik, chart from Tradingview
On April 17th, Bitcoin rose by 2.77%, after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz commercially open for the rest of its 10-day ceasefire with the US. With the market anticipating further upward movement, an on-chain analysis suggests a retracement could be the next event. Related Reading: BREAKING – Bitcoin Breaks $78K As Iran Reopens Strait Of Hormuz On-Chain Metrics Signal Imminent BTC Pullback In a recent QuickTake post on CryptoQuant, on-chain analyst MAC_D outlines a confluence of metrics signaling a possible price retracement. MAC_D highlights that, as Bitcoin grows, readings from the Bitcoin ETF: Daily Change In total Bitcoin Holdings have begun to decline. For context, this metric tracks the daily change in the amount of Bitcoin that flows into Spot Bitcoin ETFs. This, in turn, serves as a gauge of spot demand strength. Given this metric’s downturn, it might signal that spot demand is weakening as well. Furthermore, MAC_D points out the Realized Profit and Loss metric, which measures the total profits or losses actually locked in by investors. According to the analyst, this indicator reached its highest level on April 14th — a level last seen in February — suggesting intense profit-taking. The Bitcoin: Exchange Inflow metric, which tracks the amount of Bitcoin entering the top 10 exchange wallets, also features in this analysis. Recently, large amounts of Bitcoin have been entering exchanges. Per the crypto expert, this suggests that the profits being realized are alongside transfers to exchanges. When a large volume of cryptocurrency (in this case, Bitcoin) is transferred to an exchange, it is typically a sign of incoming sell pressure. This is because transferred tokens are often moved with the intent of being sold, due to increased risk aversion among its investors, or as a result of mere profit-taking. Interestingly, the futures market is also opposing the recent bullish momentum. The analyst reveals that Open Interest across exchanges has begun to diverge from recent highs. Hence, it is apparent that traders are not aggressively leveraging with bullish expectations being their motivation. In other words, the rally is not being strongly supported by speculative activity, which often plays a key role in sustaining extended upward moves. Ultimately, these on-chain signals make it clear that, while the Bitcoin price recently saw an impressive break, it lacks the relevant backing to sustain its growth. Related Reading: XRP Just Settled $291 Million On-Chain, Almost Nothing Hit Binance: Find Out What’s Happening Bitcoin Market Overview As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at approximately $77,202, up around 3% over the past 24 hours. On a monthly basis, the premier cryptocurrency is also up by roughly 8.47%, according to CoinMarketCap data. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs added $186 million in their second straight day of positive flows, as Morgan Stanley's MSBT topped WisdomTree's fund.
The fund would provide exposure to ETPs that hold bitcoin, options on spot Bitcoin ETPs and options on “Bitcoin ETP Indices."
High-level negotiations between the US and Iran failed to reach a meaningful resolution earlier on Sunday.
CME has lost its position as the largest Bitcoin futures exchange to Binance for the first time since November 2023.
Institutions appear to be taking profits from the bitcoin rally rather than joining the momentum, one analyst said.
Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust's first-day volume exceeded the $30 million estimate from Bloomberg Senior Analyst Eric Balchunas.
The bank boasts "the largest network of financial advisors [with] 16,000 advisors managing $6.2 trillion" according to an analyst.
Global crypto funds saw $224 million worth of net inflows last week, led by XRP products with $119.6 million, per CoinShares.
The return in inflows reflects renewed confidence among institutional participants in the crypto market, analysts said.
Following the close of the deal, its new crypto arm will be called Franklin Crypto, with strategies focused on institutional investors.
Analysts said long-term conviction in bitcoin is still intact, noting that the decline is more cyclical than fundamental.
Crypto analyst Sweep has revealed that 20 Bitcoin indicators have flashed bullish at the same time, providing a bullish outlook for the leading crypto. Based on this development, the analyst has predicted that BTC could rally to $150,000, marking a new all-time high (ATH). 20 Bitcoin Indicators Hint At Rally To $150,000 In an X post, Sweep stated that 20 independent indicators are bullish at the same time. He noted that this has only happened three times in Bitcoin’s history, and each time was followed by a 300% rally. The first of this indicator is the Global M2 money supply, which just hit an all-time high (ATH) while BTC is still lagging. Related Reading: None Of The 30 Bitcoin Market Peak Indicators Have Been Hit, So Why Did The Price Crash? Sweep further revealed that the Dollar Index is at 100, the exact level that preceded 500% rallies twice before. Another bullish indicator is that BTC’s exchange reserves have fallen to a 7-year low, with only 2.1 million BTC remaining across all crypto exchanges. The drop in these exchange reserves has come as whales bought 270,000 BTC over 30 days, the largest accumulation wave since 2013. Another bullish indicator is that the Fear and Greed index has been stuck at extreme fear for 46 straight days, currently at 12. Bitcoin’s weekly RSI has printed 27.48, the third time in history that it has been this low. Furthermore, funding rates have been negative for weeks, with traders paying fees to short BTC. Meanwhile, Sweep also mentioned that the stablecoin supply has hit an all-time high of $320 billion, with supply sitting on the sidelines. Miners have been in capitulation for 4 months straight, the longest stretch this cycle. At the same time, the hash rate is recovering from a 22% decline. The Macro Angle For BTC Sweep mentioned bullish macro indicators, such as the Fed ending quantitative tightening, draining the reverse repo from $2.5 trillion to nearly zero, and resuming purchases of Treasury bills. Furthermore, Consumer confidence is in the second-lowest zone ever recorded in 70 years of data, while the ISM manufacturing is back in expansion for the first time in 40 months. Related Reading: The Last Time Bitcoin Sentiment Was This Bad Was 2022, But There Was A Silver Lining Another bullish indicator is that the Bitcoin ETF flows have turned positive in March, with $2.5 billion in inflows. SoSoValue data shows that the BTC ETFs are on course to end a streak of four consecutive months of outflows. Sweep mentioned that BTC has just printed 5 consecutive red monthly candles, which has happened only once and led to a 308% rally afterwards. Lastly, 92% of short-term holders are underwater. The analyst noted that the last time this many signals aligned was in November 2022, when Bitcoin was trading at $16,000. Since then, BTC has pumped to a new ATH of $126,000. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is trading at around $67,500, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
The T-Strive Digital Credit ETF would invest in bitcoin treasury firms' yield-bearing preferred stock equities, including Strategy's Stretch.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw $296 million in outflows last week as global crypto funds posted $414 million in net withdrawals.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart called the pricing a "big move" and predicted that the fund may launch in early April.
One analyst noted that this reflects short-term profit-taking rather than a shift in long-term conviction.
The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
Eric Balchunas noted that the NYSE officially announced the listing of Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin ETF, a sign its launch is likely "imminent."
Head of Research Vetle Lunde said subdued derivatives activity and limited inflows point to a cautious market, but one forming a bottom.
The changes mean crypto ETF options are now treated identically to other commodity-based ETF options at every major exchange in the U.S.