Bitcoin ETFs lose $1.6 billion in November as stock funds buy the dip

What happened

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have continued to lose assets in November, even as investors used a market pullback to add large sums to equity funds. According to SoSoValue data cited by Cointelegraph, the Bitcoin funds recorded $95 million in net outflows on Tuesday, taking withdrawals since the start of the month to roughly $1.6 billion.

The same session looked very different in stocks. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said all 17 of the top US-listed ETFs ranked by inflows over five trading sessions were equity funds, and that US-listed ETFs took in about $12 billion a day across that stretch. Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF, Invesco's Nasdaq-100 ETF and BlackRock's iShares Core S&P 500 ETF were among the biggest beneficiaries.

The pace of Bitcoin fund withdrawals has nonetheless slowed. Cointelegraph reported daily net outflows of $430 million on Thursday and $412 million on Friday, easing to $201 million on Monday and $95 million on Tuesday, a third consecutive session of improvement. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust lost $78 million on Tuesday, its eighth straight trading day of outflows and about $1.73 billion over the streak, according to Farside Investors. Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin Trust ETF attracted $20 million, far too little to offset the wider losses.

Decrypt, also citing SoSoValue, put the five-day outflow at about $1.44 billion between November 5 and November 11, including $299.9 million on Wednesday, and November's running total at $1.88 billion after $520 million left the funds in October. The two November tallies differ because they were compiled at different points in the week.

Why it matters

The split flows suggest investors are not abandoning risk so much as choosing where to hold it. Equity funds absorbed billions during a selloff that also hit AI and technology shares, while Bitcoin funds kept leaking. Analysts quoted by Decrypt argued that the more important issue is an absence of fresh buyers rather than the size of the redemptions themselves. Tim Sun, a senior researcher at HashKey, described the outflows as institutions trimming risk exposure after a decline in macro risk appetite, and said the move is not enough on its own to show that Bitcoin's long-term allocation case has reversed. BitGo head of research Greg Cipolaro cautioned that Bitcoin has fallen alongside risk assets but has lagged their recoveries.

What the data shows

The funds' total net assets have dropped to $93.7 billion, about 45% below the $169.5 billion peak recorded in October 2025, as outflows and falling prices compound. Sun estimated the five-day outflow equals roughly 2.6% of the $55.1 billion in cumulative net inflows the funds have gathered, which he called far from a full-scale retreat, and put the average holding cost for spot Bitcoin ETFs near $81,000.

CryptoQuant's Bitcoin Bull Score Index fell to 20 on Monday from 90 on October 13, a reading the firm described as extremely bearish, according to a report seen by Cointelegraph. The analysts estimated apparent Bitcoin demand shrank by 284,000 BTC over 30 days, the fastest contraction since March 2025, and flagged $73,200 as a key support level. On stablecoins, Cipolaro noted that dollar-pegged supply contracted 1.9% to $286.3 billion, while Glassnode data cited by Decrypt showed total stablecoin supply down $14.2 billion in the 30 days through November 9, the sharpest drop since June 2022. Bitcoin traded near $73,358 at one point, down 0.87% in 24 hours per Decrypt data, and at $73,998 at another, down 1% daily and 5.2% over seven days per CoinGecko.

Background

Cipolaro noted that the post-election bounce brought only $75 million into spot Bitcoin ETFs, a sign that little fresh capital was waiting on the sidelines. He also pointed to the basis trade, in which hedge funds bought ETF shares while shorting futures to capture the price gap; with the basis now below borrowing costs, many of those funds have exited. Sun said that shift means ETF flows may reflect directional Bitcoin demand more directly than before.

Corporate buyers have slowed as well. Sun said the premium of Strategy's stock over the value of its Bitcoin holdings has narrowed, making capital raises for more purchases less attractive, while MSCI's decision to exclude the company from its indexes could cut off passive investment. Bloomberg's Balchunas offered a longer view, comparing Bitcoin funds with gold ETF GLD, which shed around 40% of its investors after a 2011 peak and took nearly a decade to regain that asset level but now holds close to three times as much. Assets without cash flows run purely on sentiment, he wrote, and sentiment changes.

What is still unclear

It is not yet clear whether the current stretch marks a cyclical pause or a deeper reassessment of allocations. Sun said some holders sitting on unrealized losses may reduce exposure further as they revisit portfolios at year-end, a process whose scale will only become visible in later flow data.

What to watch

Flow watchers will focus on whether equity ETF demand stays elevated and whether Bitcoin funds stop bleeding. Cipolaro said that unless Bitcoin begins to take part in rallies and ETF demand strengthens, digital assets could remain exposed to further downside without benefiting from a broader risk asset rebound. Sun said the most critical factor is the persistent lack of buying demand, which may matter more for prices than the outflow figures alone. CryptoQuant noted that similar conditions have preceded local bottoms but warned a deeper correction is still possible, with $73,200 in focus. On Decrypt Predict, users assigned a 40% chance to Bitcoin trading above $74,000 on Sunday afternoon and a 94% chance it holds above $70,000.

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