Bitcoin ETFs record $648M outflows

U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $648.6 million of net outflows on May 18, one of the largest single-day withdrawals in recent months, according to Farside Investors’ daily flow table. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs lost another $86.4 million the same day, extending a run of withdrawals across the two biggest crypto ETF segments. MarketCoinpedia cited those figures in a 24-hour market recap circulated on X, alongside claims that Solana and XRP ETFs saw small inflows and that exchange reserves fell as large holders accumulated off-exchange balances. Farside’s published tables support the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF numbers. ### Which funds drove the Bitcoin outflow? BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, ticker IBIT, led the May 18 withdrawals with $448.4 million of net outflows, according to Farside. Ark & 21Shares’ ARKB followed with $109.6 million of outflows, while Fidelity’s FBTC lost $63.4 million. Smaller withdrawals hit Bitwise’s BITB, Invesco’s BTCO, Franklin’s EZBC and VanEck’s HODL, and no fund in Farside’s table posted a positive flow for that session. (farside.co.uk) The $648.6 million total was materially larger than the next four sessions in the same table. Farside showed Bitcoin ETF outflows of $331.1 million on May 19, $70.5 million on May 20, $100.9 million on May 21 and $105.2 million on May 22. ### How unusual was the Ethereum withdrawal? U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted $86.4 million of net outflows on May 18, according to Farside’s Ethereum flow page. The largest contributors were BlackRock’s ETHA at negative $55.4 million, Fidelity’s FETH at negative $14.7 million, Grayscale’s ETH product at negative $10.1 million and Grayscale’s ETHE at negative $4.0 million. (farside.co.uk) The May 18 Ethereum withdrawal came in the middle of a broader losing stretch. (farside.co.uk) Farside’s table showed negative daily totals on May 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, with only small positive days on May 5, 6, 8 and 11 in that period. ### Did the selling continue after May 18? SoSoValue’s Bitcoin ETF dashboard showed the complex still mixed by May 24, with fresh daily changes across major funds rather than a full reversal. (farside.co.uk) On the current dashboard snapshot, IBIT showed a positive one-day inflow of $144.10 million, while GBTC, ARKB, BTCO and EZBC still showed one-day outflows. That means the $648.6 million figure refers to a specific trading day — May 18 — not a standing daily norm. (farside.co.uk) The more recent fund dashboard suggests flows remained volatile in the sessions that followed. That is an inference from the sequence of published fund-flow tables and dashboard snapshots. ### What can and can’t be verified in the broader market recap? MarketCoinpedia’s X post said Solana and XRP ETFs recorded minor inflows and that exchange reserves fell while whales accumulated off-exchange balances. (sosovalue.com) The Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF numbers align with Farside’s May 18 tables. The broader reserve-and-whale claim is harder to verify cleanly from primary public dashboards in the same way. CryptoQuant’s exchange-reserve page describes rising reserves as a sign of higher selling pressure, while CoinGlass provides a live exchange-balance tracker, but the available search results did not surface a matching primary-data snapshot tying those reserve claims to the same May 18 window. (farside.co.uk) ### Why do traders watch these flow tables so closely? Farside publishes daily net creations and redemptions for U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, and those numbers are widely used as a readout of institutional demand. A large negative print means more money was redeemed from the products than created that day, though it does not by itself explain whether investors were cutting risk, taking profits or rotating into other vehicles. (cryptoquant.com) The next concrete data points will come from the next Farside daily tables and SoSoValue dashboard updates for U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum funds. Those reports will show whether the May 18 washout remains an outlier or becomes part of a longer withdrawal streak. (farside.co.uk)