Bitcoin ETF ends a run of seven consecutive red days, and renewed pressure returns to the Bitcoin price

U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs turned to outflows after recording net inflows for seven straight trading days. On the 18th, they saw a daily outflow of $163.5 million, and on the 19th they recorded another outflow of $51.9 million. At the same time, Bitcoin pulled back from this week’s highs, at one point dropping below $70,000, indicating that both the fund flows and the price action have weakened in sync. Bitcoin ETFs showed a clear turn this week. After attracting a total of about $1.162 billion over seven consecutive trading days from March 9 to March 17, fund momentum reversed starting on the 18th. The ETFs recorded a daily net outflow of $163.5 million on the 18th, followed by another outflow of $51.9 million on the 19th, ending the prior streak of consecutive red days. The market had originally expected ETF buying demand to continue, providing support for Bitcoin to hold above $70,000. However, with the Federal Reserve signaling a more hawkish tone, oil prices rising, and geopolitical risks increasing, the direction of fund flows has clearly become more cautious.

Based on the data, Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $199.4 million on the 16th and $199.4 million on the 17th, continuing the inflow momentum seen since the previous week. But on the 18th and 19th, they switched to net outflows. If calculated using the currently released weekly data, the four trading days from March 16 to 19 still show net inflows of $183.4 million. However, in terms of trend, it has shifted from “steady inflows” to “late-stage slowdown.” By product type, the main pressure behind this weakening comes from the pullback in leading products. On March 18, BlackRock’s IBIT had a single-day outflow of $33.9 million, Fidelity’s FBTC saw outflows of $103.8 million, and Grayscale’s GBTC also recorded outflows of $18.8 million. On March 19, FBTC saw another outflow of $26 million, and BITB, ARKB, and GBTC also recorded outflows in parallel. This indicates that this round of adjustment is not a temporary fluctuation from a single product, but a broader cooling in institutional risk appetite. Bitcoin: After breaking below $70,000, it has not truly stabilized According to Binance data, at the time of writing Bitcoin was about $70,756.93. In the past 24 hours, the low briefly reached $68,805.52 and the high was $71,227.75. The drop over the last 24 hours was about 0.75%, and over the past 7 days it is still down slightly by 0.8%. Although the price has not seen the kind of sudden sell-off that occurred in early February, the $70,000 level has been tested by the market again, and the recent low has clearly broken below that whole-number support. This point is crucial. Due to the role of ETFs, they typically do not directly determine the price direction; instead, they reinforce the existing trend. When prices move upward, ETF inflows amplify market optimism. When prices weaken, ETF outflows intensify the market’s interpretation of “institutional buying slowing down.” What makes Bitcoin especially worth watching this week is that it previously rebounded to around $74,000, yet it has now slipped back to the edge of $70,000 again—signaling to the market that although this rebound was driven by capital, the underlying support is still not solid enough. Because ETF fund flows are ultimately lagging signals, price is the market’s most immediate reaction to the overall environment. This week, Bitcoin’s pullback from the highs is not only about ETF outflows, but more importantly about a fast deterioration in the macro environment. The market is re-pricing the expectation of “higher rates for longer” following the Federal Reserve’s meeting, and this is compounded by Middle East tensions heating up and pushing up oil prices, leading investors to clearly reduce their preference for risk assets. Traders have pushed back expectations for when the U.S. will begin rate cuts to around the middle of 2027, which—undoubtedly—creates pressure for crypto assets that already rely heavily on liquidity and risk appetite. While a streak of ETF red days for seven straight sessions may briefly create an optimistic atmosphere of “institutional capital returning,” what truly drives this week’s price is still macro variables rather than pure fund flows. When the Federal Reserve’s stance is hawkish, energy prices surge, and geopolitical risks rise, even if Bitcoin still has some ETF buying support, it is still difficult to fully detach from the global risk-asset pricing framework. This also explains why ETF inflows were present in the first half of this week, yet Bitcoin failed to effectively hold higher ranges. From this week’s trading, $70,000 has become the short-term dividing line between bulls and bears From both a technical and sentiment perspective, the importance of $70,000 has again been amplified. This is not only a psychological whole-number level, but also a market confidence indicator for whether this rebound can continue. According to Binance data, Bitcoin is still up about 4.63% over the past 30 days, but down 23.64% over the past 60 days, and the decline over the past 90 days has reached 19.75%, showing that the medium-term structure has not been fully repaired. In other words, the price pullback this week is not an isolated event; it looks more like a rebound that got blocked after a period of weakness in the medium term.