Between February 18 and 26, investors withdrew $2.99 billion from spot ETFs based on digital gold, including $754.5 million on the last reporting day.
Trading volumes for these products decreased from $7.74 billion to $5.79 billion.
Total inflows shrank to $37.1 billion, while AUM fell to $95.16 billion.
Since its launch in January 2024, the exchange has recorded only 21 days of net outflows.
According to revised data, on February 25, the figure reached a record $1.14 billion.
On February 26, the largest contributor to the negative trend was BlackRock’s IBIT ($418.1 million) — a historical high; the previous record of $332.6 million was set on January 2.
The day before, a record outflow was recorded in Franklin Templeton’s FBTC ($344.65 million). On February 26, the figure decreased to $145.69 million.
On February 27, Standard Chartered forecasted continued outflows from BTC-ETFs.
According to research by 10x Research, a significant portion of volumes in bitcoin ETFs (56%) is linked to arbitrage. Traders profit from the difference between spot and futures prices.
In the current conditions, funding rates and basis spreads are too low to justify holding positions and opening new ones, noted Marcus Thielen, founder and head of research at the firm.
Rachel Lucas from BTC Markets attributed the reversal in instrument trends to profit-taking after bitcoin’s strong growth in 2024 and weak performance this year. Investors are also concerned about the policies of the Fed and the trade relations between the US and other countries, she added.
In February, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes suggested that asset prices could drop to $70,000 due to ETF outflows.
According to Bitwise, in 2025, net inflows into digital gold-based ETFs could exceed $50 billion.
ETH-ETF
The negative trend in spot Ethereum-ETF inflows extended to five days. On February 26, clients withdrew $94.27 million from the products, bringing the total for the period to $244.5 million.
Total inflows decreased to $2.93 billion. AUM fell to $8.56 billion.
The SEC is reviewing applications to include in-kind redemptions in BTC-ETFs and ETH-ETFs, as well as the inclusion of staking in the latter.