An unidentified trader sold $1.3 billion worth of shares in BlackRock’s exchange-traded Bitcoin fund on Tuesday, coinciding with a sharp drop in the price of Bitcoin immediately after the sale, according to analysts.
A trader sold 29.2 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) at 14:30 UTC on a “dark pool,” a private trading platform often used by institutions 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 Bitcoin (BTC) down 1.5% from $77,875 to $76,720 in a brief 10-minute window after 14:30 UTC.
Bitcoin then slid further to a 24-hour low of $75,600 around 12 hours later, marking a 2.8% drop for the day.
Bitcoin has historically been considered an asset traded outside of the traditional market, but products such as US-based Bitcoin ETFs have removed barriers for institutional investors to trade Bitcoin, and recently the cryptocurrency is trading in high correlation with the US markets.
Alex Thorn, head of research at crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, he said in a post to X that it’s the biggest trade he’s seen done through the dark pool.
Source: Alex Thorn
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, too divided that 29.2 million shares of IBIT were sold at $43.16 and more than 22 times the second largest order to sell IBIT on Tuesday.
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The streak of Bitcoin ETF outflows continues
US spot Bitcoin ETFs now have recorded eight consecutive trading days of net outflows, with outflows of $333.6 million on Tuesday, including outflows from IBIT of $192.4 million.
More than $2 billion has flowed out of ETFs since May 14, the last recorded net inflow to all funds, a sign that institutional sentiment toward Bitcoin has weakened, and investors are reducing exposure to Bitcoin ETFs at a faster rate than fresh capital is flowing into the market.
Institutional market maker Jane Street cut its holdings in the Bitcoin ETF by about 70% in the first quarter, while investment bank Goldman Sachs trimmed its position in the Bitcoin ETF by 10%.
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