Bitcoin fell below $92,000 Tuesday — pulling back after meeting resistance at the coveted $100,000 level. Meanwhile, short bitcoin ETFs saw their best inflows of the year on Monday.
Bitcoin on Friday hit a record-high of $99,768, marking a 47% increase from Nov. 4. But the world's largest cryptocurrency has slowly trended lower since, unable to clear $99,800.
BTC's price dropped sharply overnight as spot bitcoin ETFs registered $435.3 million in outflows, ending a streak of five consecutive days of gains, according to Farside Investors. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust was the exception, registering inflows of $267.8 million.
Meanwhile, short exchange traded funds, which bet the price of bitcoin will fall, saw record inflows Monday.
The ProShares UltraShort Bitcoin ETF, which delivers 2x the inverse daily performance of bitcoin, recorded $18.8 million in inflows Monday, the largest since its April launch, Bloomberg reported. The ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF recorded about $23 million over the past two trading sessions, which was among its highest inflows this year.
"Traders are hedging against potential downside risks," Nick Forster, founder of crypto trading platform Derive told Bloomberg. "However, pullbacks like these are not uncommon in bull markets."
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas in a social media post Monday said that long-term holders are starting to sell, causing the price to dip. Balchunas cited data that long-term holders sold about 128,000 bitcoin starting in late October. But the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have absorbed 90% of that selling pressure, indicating there's still strong institutional support.
"The call is coming from inside the house, it's long term hodlers (sic)," Balchunas wrote, referencing the HODL nickname for investors adamant about not selling their crypto holdings.
Bitcoin Price, Crypto Stocks
Bitcoin traded around $91,500 Tuesday afternoon, rebounding slightly from its intraday low of $90,784. Despite the pullback over the past few days, BTC has still rocketed 117% so far this year.
IBIT and the spot bitcoin ETFs slid about 4.3% Tuesday.
The ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF climbed about 4.3%, while the UltraShort Bitcoin ETF popped 8.4%.
Coinbase stock retreated 6%.
BTC mining stocks also carved lower Tuesday.
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