Bitcoin ETFs Smash Trading Volume Records During BTC’s Wild Friday Swings

Although the day ended in the green, BlackRock’s IBIT extended its negative streak.

The spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States set a new record in terms of trading volume on Friday, which was categorized as “wild but normal” by experts.

This came amid turbulent times for the underlying asset, which experienced a substantial price volatility that included a drop toward $80,000 and a subsequent recovery of almost five grand.

BTC ETFs See New Record

Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas described the events that took place on the spot Bitcoin ETF front as an “eruption” in the trading volumes, with $11.5 billion traded from all of them. After asserting that this was “wild but also normal,” he explained what might be the cause and how ETFs are liquidation release valves.

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Somewhat expectedly, the world’s largest BTC ETF was responsible for the lion’s share, with $8 billion of the total volume. IBIT has been on a substantial negative streak for the past several weeks, and yesterday was no exception, with $122 million in net outflows. Interestingly, it has been in the green only once out of the past eight trading days.

Nevertheless, the day turned out to be positive for the ETFs as a group, with $238.4 million entering the funds. The week, though, was deep in the red, with over $1.2 billion in net outflows, according to FarSide data.

BTC Price Update

These withdrawals from the ETFs are among the reasons why BTC’s price has been falling hard lately. Recall that the asset entered the previous business week at $95,000, but it dumped hard by almost $15,000 in the span of just a few days to bottom below $81,000 on Friday.

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Once the New York Fed President John Williams offered some hope that the central bank might lower interest rates soon, BTC bounced to around $85,000. Still, the cryptocurrency has plunged by roughly 32% since its all-time high in early October, which raises questions about the state of the overall market and whether the bears are in full control now.