Bitcoin Struggles Without Catalysts, ETF Flows Disappoint

Bitcoin hovers around $61,000, struggling to maintain momentum amidst a lack of major catalysts. The threat of sustained interest rate hikes has dampened demand for risk assets, including Bitcoin. While ETF inflows provide some hope, U.S.-listed ETFs have seen limited flows, with only moderate gains from Monday's inflows offsetting Tuesday's outflows.

Bitcoin Struggles Amidst Lack of Catalyst, ETF Flows Underwhelm

Bitcoin (BTC) is grappling to maintain support at $61,000 as Thursday's trading session commences, with the absence of any significant catalyst dampening market sentiment. Simultaneously, the specter of prolonged high-interest rates weighs on demand for riskier assets, including Bitcoin.

Technical analysis by TradingView reveals that a concerted effort by bears on Wednesday breached support at $62,000, pushing Bitcoin to a low of $60,605 during the early hours of Thursday. However, bulls managed to halt the decline and regain levels above $62,000.

At the time of writing, BTC hovers around $62,220, exhibiting a modest 0.28% increase on the 24-hour chart.

With no notable catalyst on the horizon and the halving event now in the rearview mirror, market participants have turned their attention to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as an indicator of investor interest. However, current ETF flows paint a lackluster picture.

As per data from Farside, inflows into U.S.-listed ETFs were virtually flat on Wednesday, with ten out of eleven products recording zero net flows. The sole exception was the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), which saw $11.5 million in inflows.

Overall, the week has been positive from a net flow perspective, with Monday witnessing inflows of $217 million. A net outflow of $15.7 million was recorded on Tuesday, resulting in a provisional weekly total of $212.8 million in inflows. This indicates that flows are beginning to stabilize.

Broadening the scope to the global stage, a report by Fineqia International paints a somewhat different picture. It highlights a 64% growth in total Assets Under Management (AUM) for cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded products (ETPs) year-to-date, reflecting continued investor interest.

However, the report also notes a 14.2% decline in total AUM on a month-to-month basis from $94.4 billion at the end of March to $81 billion.

"The entire market value of digital assets decreased by 18.8%, to about $2.29 trillion from $2.82 trillion in April," analysts at Finequia observed. "Even amid the market decline, financial products backed by digital assets maintained a 24.5% premium over the digital assets market, in line with the trend seen in Q1. Year-to-date, ETPs holding digital assets rose 64% in AUM, while the digital assets market cap increased by 29.2%. This highlights a premium growth for ETPs of roughly 117% compared to the relative underlying."

They attribute this surge in premium primarily to the launch of spot BTC ETFs in the U.S., which "stimulated capital inflows into financial products featuring digital assets as underlying assets throughout Q1."

"It's fully baked now," asserted Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO of Fineqia. "With the initial surge from the SEC's yeast impact having cooled off, the loaves are ready and being served on the ETF and ETN shelves worldwide."

Last week witnessed the launch of three Bitcoin and three Ether (ETH) ETFs in Hong Kong, and the report predicts that "the U.K. is poised to follow suit shortly." It also highlights the regulatory progress in countries such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand towards creating more conducive environments for digital asset-backed products.

The report further reveals a 13.6% decline in BTC value during April, from $69,650 to $60,150, accompanied by a 13.2% reduction in AUM for ETPs with BTC as their underlying asset. This suggests a generally neutral trend throughout April, with the decline in AUM mirroring the decrease in the underlying asset's value. Year-to-date, ETPs holding BTC have exhibited a 77.7% increase, while the BTC value has risen by 42.2%, implying an 84% premium growth for BTC-backed financial products in 2024.

Ether followed a similar trajectory, experiencing a 14.9% drop in April. This coincided with a 16.4% decline in AUM for ETH-denominated ETPs, further strengthening the correlation between ETP performance and the underlying assets. Year-to-date, ETPs holding ETH have exhibited a 26.6% increase, while the ETH value has grown by 31.1%.

"This emphasizes how the rising expectation amongst market contributors of the SEC rejecting the approval of ETH Spot ETFs in May has led to a decrease in institutional exposure to ETH in favor of BTC," the analysts explained.

Diversified cryptocurrency ETFs, including those representing a basket of other coins, also witnessed significant declines in April, underscoring the broad-based nature of the pullback following the bull market rally that commenced in January 2023.

While ETF flows remain underwhelming and point towards lateral price movement in the short term, crypto investor Elija provided an optimistic perspective from an on-chain analysis viewpoint. He highlighted that Bitcoin's network fundamentals "signify a 300% gain from the current stage," indicating that the Bitcoin peak for this cycle "could be somewhere between $250,000 and $275,000."