Bitcoin ETFs recover two-thirds

U.S. spot bitcoin ETF flow data and Strategy’s latest purchase disclosure point to the same pattern this week: institutional bitcoin demand persisted even as prices fell back below $77,000. Farside Investors’ daily table shows bitcoin ETFs suffered a string of outflow days in May, including a $630.4 million net outflow on May 13 and a $648.6 million net outflow on May 18. The same table shows a $131.3 million net inflow on May 14, partially offsetting the earlier withdrawals. Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy, said on its bitcoin purchases page that it bought 24,869 bitcoin on May 18 at an average price of $80,985, spending about $2.014 billion. The company said that lifted its total holdings to 843,738 bitcoin acquired at an average cost of $75,700. CoinMarketCap data showed bitcoin changed hands at about $77,008 on May 19, after closing at $76,954 on May 18 and trading as low as $76,029 that day. (farside.co.uk) ### How much of the ETF drawdown has actually been recovered? Farside Investors’ published figures do not support a clean “two-thirds recovered” calculation from the data visible through May 18. The table shows net outflows of $233.2 million on May 12, $630.4 million on May 13, $290.4 million on May 15 and $648.6 million on May 18, against one visible rebound day of $131.3 million on May 14. (strategy.com) Based on those posted daily figures alone, the market had recovered only a fraction of the immediately preceding withdrawals. CoinGlass, which tracks U.S. bitcoin ETF assets and flows, showed the sector with about $106.81 billion in assets under management and about $103.83 billion in market capitalization as of May 19. That indicates the products remained large even after the recent withdrawals. ### What did Strategy do during the selloff? (farside.co.uk) Strategy’s May 18 disclosure was one of its largest purchases this year. The company said the 24,869-bitcoin purchase cost about $2.014 billion, following much smaller buys of 535 bitcoin on May 11 and 3,273 bitcoin on April 27. The timing mattered because CoinMarketCap’s historical data show bitcoin traded between roughly $76,000 and $82,000 over the past week. (coinglass.com) Strategy’s disclosed average purchase price of $80,985 suggests it was still adding near the upper half of that range rather than waiting for the intraday low below $77,000. ### Did bitcoin really fall below $77,000? (strategy.com) CoinMarketCap’s daily history shows bitcoin reached a low of $76,029.22 on May 18 before closing at $76,954.18. Its live page showed bitcoin at $77,008.10 on May 19. That price action matches the basic outline in market commentary that described a drawdown followed by continued institutional buying, but the precise ETF-recovery claim circulating on social media could not be confirmed from the public flow tables reviewed here. (strategy.com) ### What about the claim that institutions are rotating from ETH into BTC? (coinmarketcap.com) The social and media briefings describe that narrative, but the source material available here does not provide a verifiable institutional allocation dataset for May 18-19 showing a measurable switch from ether into bitcoin. The YouTube link cited in the briefing did not return usable transcript text through the available tools, and no primary filing or fund statement reviewed here documented such a rotation. (farside.co.uk) So the documented facts are narrower. By May 19, bitcoin ETF flows had been volatile, Strategy had disclosed a $2.014 billion bitcoin purchase dated May 18, and bitcoin itself had traded below $77,000 during the pullback. The next concrete update is likely to come from daily ETF flow trackers such as Farside and CoinGlass, and from Strategy’s next purchase disclosure if it adds again. (youtube.com) (farside.co.uk)