U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw $1.26 billion withdraw last week, the largest weekly outflow since January, according to fund flow data. The moves ended a six-day run of redemptions that began on May 15 and brought cumulative net outflows over that period to $1.55 billion.
Daily flows and price moves
The 12 spot bitcoin funds recorded their heaviest single-day loss on Monday, when $648.6 million exited as bitcoin slipped below $77,000. Outflows eased over the rest of the week:
- Tuesday: $331 million
- Wednesday: $70.5 million
- Thursday: $100.8 million
- Friday: $105.2 million
By Friday’s close, bitcoin was trading near $77,550, stuck in a narrow range for most of the week after earlier trading close to $82,833 earlier in the month. Market technicians described key support between $74,000 and $76,000, and resistance around $78,500 to $80,000, noting that repeated failure to hold above $80,000 appears to have contributed to the latest wave of ETF redemptions.
Across all bitcoin ETFs, total net assets stood at $98.9 billion against cumulative inflows of $57.1 billion. The largest fund now holds about 4% of bitcoin’s circulating supply.
Ether ETFs extend record losing streak
Spot ether ETFs also came under pressure, posting ten straight days of outflows, the longest such streak since March 2025. Over the past week, the nine listed ether products saw $216 million leave, trimming their net inflows to $11.62 billion versus $11.84 billion in net assets.
Ether traded around $2,130 at the end of the week and fell roughly 3.3% in the 24 hours after Friday’s ETF close. The asset is trading below key moving averages, and market tone around ether is broadly described as bearish, with weaker and more uneven institutional flows than in bitcoin products.
Fund-level impact and divergence
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ended Friday with $61.1 billion in net assets compared with $64.8 billion in cumulative inflows, implying its holdings are roughly $3.7 billion below the capital that has entered the fund, largely due to price declines.
By contrast, Fidelity’s spot bitcoin ETF continues to hold around $3.2 billion more in assets than total inflows, highlighting performance differences across major issuers.
Corporate demand slows sharply
The ETF outflows have coincided with a marked slowdown in corporate treasury activity. Market data show corporate purchases dropped about 80% in May versus April, removing a key source of institutional demand that had supported prices in previous months.
With fewer corporate buyers, ETFs remain one of the few sizable institutional channels still active in the market. At the same time, aggregate spot market flows registered nine consecutive sessions of net selling through May 19, matching the longest negative stretch seen in 2026.
Market at an inflection point
The combination of sustained ETF redemptions, softer corporate buying, and range-bound prices suggests a period of reassessment among larger market participants. Traders are now watching whether key support levels in bitcoin hold and whether flows into regulated products stabilize, or if the current pattern of withdrawals and weaker institutional engagement continues to weigh on prices in the weeks ahead.
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