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U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have recorded five consecutive days of net outflows, as investors retreat from risk assets after a turbulent week for markets.
The funds lost some $1.44 billion between November 5 and November 11, including $299.9 million on Wednesday, according to SoSoValue data. That brings net outflows for November so far to $1.88 billion, after $520 million left the funds in October.
The outflows have coincided with a sell-off in AI and technology stocks. On November 5, when the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% in a single day, Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of about $430 million.
"This wave of outflows is the result of institutional investors actively or passively reducing their risk exposure following a decline in macro risk appetite, which is not yet sufficient to prove that Bitcoin's long-term allocation thesis has reversed," Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, told Decrypt.
The five-day outflows amount to about 2.6% of the funds' $55.1 billion in cumulative net inflows, "far from a full-scale retreat," Sun said. But the funds' total net assets have fallen to $93.7 billion, down about 45% from a peak of $169.5 billion in October 2025, as both outflows and falling prices take their toll.
Bitcoin is trading at $73,358, down 0.87% over the past 24 hours, according to Decrypt data. On Decrypt Predict, users put a 40% chance on Bitcoin trading above $74,000 on Sunday afternoon, and a 94% chance that it will hold above $70,000. Sun estimated that the average holding cost for spot Bitcoin ETFs is around $81,000, meaning some ETF holders are now sitting on unrealized losses, and that some investors may cut their exposure further as they reassess their allocations at year-end.
Analysts say the bigger concern is a shortage of new buyers. In a note shared with Decrypt, Greg Cipolaro, head of research at BitGo, said the post-election bounce brought only $75 million into spot Bitcoin ETFs, while the supply of dollar-pegged stablecoins contracted 1.9% to $286.3 billion, "suggesting little fresh capital is waiting on the sidelines." Onchain analytics firm Glassnode found that total stablecoin supply fell by $14.2 billion in the 30 days through November 9, the fastest contraction since June 2022, Decrypt reported on Wednesday.
The basis trade, in which hedge funds bought spot ETF shares while shorting futures to capture the price gap, has also become less attractive because the basis has fallen below borrowing costs, prompting many funds to exit, Cipolaro said. That means ETF flows may now reflect directional demand for Bitcoin more directly than before, according to Sun.
Stablecoin Drain, ETF Outflows Leave Bitcoin 'Running on Empty'
Corporate buyers have also slowed. The premium of Strategy's stock over the value of its Bitcoin holdings has narrowed, making it less attractive for the company to raise capital to buy more, while MSCI's decision to exclude it from its indexes could cut off passive investment, Sun said.
"The most critical factor to watch right now is the persistent lack of buying demand itself, the impact of which on prices may be more significant than the outflow figures alone," he said.
Cipolaro said Bitcoin had fallen with risk assets but lagged their recoveries. "Unless it begins to participate in rallies and ETF demand strengthens, digital assets could remain exposed to further downside without benefiting from a broader risk asset rebound," he wrote.
Not everyone sees the outflows as a long-term warning sign. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas compared Bitcoin ETFs with gold ETF GLD, which saw around 40% of its investors leave after its 2011 peak and took nearly a decade to recover its assets, but now holds nearly three times that early high. "Assets without cash flows run purely on sentiment and it changes," he wrote.
