As investors pulled millions of dollars out of US-listed spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Tuesday, one move stood out.
A single investor dumped over a billion dollars worth of shares in BlackRock’s bitcoin The ETF, which trades under the ticker IBIT, in one dark-pool trade. A dark-pool trade is a privately negotiated transaction that allows the largest market participants to buy and sell large amounts of stock without tipping off the public or immediately crushing the spot price.
The massive selloff was just one on a day when the total net outflows from the 11 spot ETFs rose to $334 million. The ETFs have suffered net outflows for seven straight days, the second-longest run since their inception in January 2024, losing $1.88 billion. The longest consecutive outflow streak is eight trading days, occurring twice – in late August-early September 2024, totaling $1.2 billion and again in February 2025, totaling $3.3 billion.
Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, flagged the transaction at X, calling it the largest of its kind he’s ever seen. Thorn noted that the $1.289 billion trade took place at 10:30 a.m. ET.
When a single entity dumps over $1 billion in one shot, it’s usually seen as a warning sign. The company is alert to potential risks ahead and is scaling down exposure.
However, the transaction does not necessarily mean a withdrawal from the fund. While a unit took a great deal of convincing to finish, buyers may well have stepped in to suck up.
The net outflow is the final statement for the day after all buying and selling across the entire market.
IBIT had to process net redemptions worth $192.44 million, according to data source SoSoValue. This suggests that the overall momentum was controlled by investors heading for the exit.
The trend is becoming harder for the bulls to ignore. Investors have now pulled a total of $2.26 billion from the ETFs over the past two weeks. If these massive exits continue, the price of bitcoin may continue to lose ground.
The biggest cryptocurrency has already pulled back below $77,000 from highs above $82,000 on May 6, CoinDesk data shows.
