Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin slid below $90,000 as global ETF flows turned negative, with $2.9 billion withdrawn from crypto ETFs over the past week.
- If the trend holds, November would mark the largest net withdrawals on record from crypto funds.
- Macro uncertainty and forced liquidations have amplified volatility, and bitcoin’s correlation to gold has weakened.
With the selloff in bitcoin worsening, investors in cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds have started heading out the door for the first time since the early months of 2025.
So far this month, investors have pulled a net $2.9 billion from crypto ETFs around the globe. If sustained, this would be a record level of monthly withdrawals, amounting to roughly 1.7% of the $172 billion held in crypto assets. This February previously claimed the largest outflows at $1.8 billion.
The largest crypto ETF, the US-based $72 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, lost $1.2 billion in the first 17 days of November. The iShares ETF accounts for almost 40% of assets in the entire category.
These withdrawals come amid a worsening selloff for bitcoin. Just 43 days after setting a new all-time high near $126,000, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency has fallen below $90,000 for the first time in seven months. With that nearly 29% plunge from it’s peak, bitcoin is now down 2.4% in 2025, having completely erased a rally that began in April. Bitcoin has shed more than $1.1 trillion in market capitalization, now hovering around $3.2 trillion.
Redemptions were particularly concentrated in the last week, when global investors pulled $2.9 billion from crypto ETFs.
Bitcoin ‘Whales’ Are Leaving
For investors, the question is no longer whether this is a routine pullback. Some in the market say that the speed and magnitude of the move suggest a broader reset, driven by tightening financial conditions and a shift in institutional positioning.
David Puell, a research trading analyst at ARK Invest, says that the big bitcoin early adopters—the so-called “whales”—have been selling and taking profits at the highest rate since 2021. According to CoinDesk, the number of investors holding more than 1,000 bitcoin has steadily fallen over the last year. This cohort peaked above 1,500 in November 2024, following US President Donald Trump’s election victory. It declined to about 1,300 this October.
Why is Bitcoin Falling?
Analysts say bitcoin’s tumble can be traced to a convergence of macro, liquidity, and sentiment pressures that have shaken even staunch crypto believers.
Gold vs. Bitcoin: Why the Safe-Haven Debate Is Shifting in 2025
The crisis can be traced to Oct. 10—cryptocurrencies’ “black Friday”—when liquidations exceeded $19 billion. Investors were unnerved by mixed signals from the US Federal Reserve about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts. In early October, it had been widely anticipated that the Fed would cut rates in December, but over the last few weeks, these expectations have diminished. Higher rates and tight liquidity make non-yielding assets like bitcoin less attractive.
The selloff has also been amplified by margin calls from investors using borrowed money to finance their crypto positions. As bitcoin’s value has fallen, heavily leveraged positions have been getting flushed, triggering cascading liquidations. Meanwhile, other longtime investors sold in order to book profits, accelerating the pullback.
Correlations that previously supported bitcoin have also weakened. After tracking closely for more than a year, gold has outperformed bitcoin by roughly 25 percentage points since Oct. 10. Ethereum has followed a similarly sharp path, falling about 35% over that period and moving into negative territory for the year.
Observers say psychology is also playing a big role. Market “fear and greed” indicators have fallen sharply, suggesting a move toward risk aversion, and headlines of forced selling are feeding a broader sense of worry.
Correction: In a previous version of this story, the note below the first two charts incorrectly related to European, rather than worldwide, ETFs.
