BlackRock has amassed roughly $200 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in five days, amid signs of short-term weakness in broad exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) started the week with strong inflows, collecting approximately $139.4 million on March 16, according to data from March 16 to March 20. That momentum continued on March 17th, when the fund added another $169.3 million, marking its strongest single-day inflow this week and fueling a broad surge in spot Bitcoin ETF demand.
However, sentiment changed sharply in the second half of the week. The investment giant recorded an outflow of approximately $33.9 million on March 18th, followed by an outflow of $38.3 million on March 19th.
Selling pressure intensified through March 20, causing an additional $45.9 million to leave the fund. Despite this third consecutive day of outflows, previous inflows were strong enough that BlackRock was able to earn approximately $190.6 million in net weekly gains from its Bitcoin exposure.
The broader spot Bitcoin ETF market followed a similar trajectory, with strong inflows at the beginning of the week, but a decline later in the week. Strong institutional demand led to net inflows of nearly $200 million on March 16th and 17th each.
The trend then reversed, with a sharp outflow of $163.5 million on March 18, followed by smaller outflows of $90.2 million on March 19 and $52 million on March 20. This shift suggests that while institutional investors remain interested, they are becoming increasingly sensitive to short-term price fluctuations and market conditions.
Ethereum ETF suffers from leak
On the other hand, BlackRock Ethereum ($ETH) ETFs showed greater volatility. iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) recorded a large inflow of $81.7 million on March 17th, which was outweighed by sharp outflows of $102.3 million on March 19th and $31.5 million on March 20th.
Overall, the Ethereum ETF has recorded weekly net outflows of approximately $60 million, indicating weak institutional demand for Ethereum.
This divergence highlights Bitcoin’s continued advantage in attracting institutional investors, with companies like BlackRock continuing to accumulate net exposure despite short-term market pullbacks.
Meanwhile, the crypto market is ending the week with fresh losses. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $68,780, while Ethereum was trying to hold above the $2,000 level at $2,080.
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