The Spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) posted its first weekly loss in a month during Christmas week, marking its worst performance since September. But analysts say the ETF industry had its best year ever.
Bitcoin ETF receives charcoal for Christmas
As the year came to a close, Bitcoin ETFs had their worst weekly performance in three months. From December 23rd to December 27th, crypto-based investment products saw significant outflows, with three days in the red last week.
The BTC ETF started the week with negative net flows of 564.94 million in the first two days, but there was a brief period of positive activity on December 26th. During the brief Christmas rally that saw Bitcoin soar to the $98,000-$99,000 price range, BTC investment products recorded $475.5 million in inflows, the best performance since the negative streak began. did.
But Friday's outflow of $297.75 million halted the positive momentum, bringing last week's total outflows to $862.69 million. As a result, the Bitcoin ETF recorded $387.54 million worth of net negative volume last week in 2024.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs see first negative week since November. Source: SoSoValue
Fidelity's FBTC recorded $208 million in outflows on Friday, its biggest loss of the week, but also the second-worst single-day performance this month. This was followed by BlackRock's IBIT, with negative net flows of $188.7 million.
Meanwhile, ARK 21Shares' ARKB recorded the second largest inflow in the past seven days, ending the week with $186.9 million. Last week, FBTC also recorded its best performance of the month, with the largest inflow of all funds at $254.4 million on Thursday.
Best performing year for ETFs
It is noteworthy that significant outflows have been recorded from investment products over the past two weeks, breaking the 15-day inflow streak that saw the total net assets of BTC ETFs jump from $100 billion to $120 billion.
Eric Balchunas, ETF expert and Bloomberg analyst noticed He noted that the total net assets of Bitcoin ETFs approached the gold ETF's $128 billion by December 17th. He also pointed out that crypto-based products have shown “unrealistic” performance in just 11 months, “so much so that you can even argue that it's even close.”
Since the negative performance began, total Bitcoin ETF outflows have exceeded $1.8 billion, and total net assets have fallen to $106.68 billion, according to SoSoValue data.
Despite recent performance, Matthew Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas research at State Street Global Advisors, said: said FOX Business says the global ETF industry is “coming off of its best year ever.”
The report highlighted the rise in active funds this year and investors “looking for” new crypto-based investment products. Sumit Roy, senior ETF analyst at ETF.com, argued that new ETF launches are one of the reasons for this year's impressive performance.
Another reason has to do with the launch of virtual currency ETFs. We saw the Spot Bitcoin ETF launch in January, and the amount of inflows are just insane.
Balciunas has previously said that Bitcoin ETFs are an “introductory vehicle” for traditional investors, have “a lot of spiritual ties” to Bitcoin, and are a “disruptive driver” that makes the investment product a “powerful long-term combination.” ”, he pointed out.
The analyst emphasized that Spot Bitcoin ETF has remained “realistic” through the “several economic downturns” we've seen this year, and despite a string of negative losses, it will continue to outperform expectations. He suggested that he was deaf.
Notably, the Spot Bitcoin ETF exceeded all expectations this year, posting positive net flows of $35.65 billion through 2024, according to Farside Invest. data.
Bitcoin's performance in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
