Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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BTC has underperformed this week, losing over 6% of its value in the last seven days.
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The poor performance comes amidst the tension in the Middle East and the outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Middle East Tension and Spot Bitcoin ETFs Outflow Causes BTC to Underperform
The cryptocurrency market underperformed this week as the ongoing tension in the Middle East affected the global financial markets. Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, lost 6% of its value in the last seven days.
The poor performance saw Bitcoin’s price drop from last week’s high of $66k to now trade at around $61,300 per coin. The primary catalyst behind this negative performance is the ongoing tension between Iran and Israel. The crisis has seen stocks and other risk-based assets suffer losses as investors opted for safe-haven assets.
Furthermore, U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their third straight day of outflows, with $54 million exiting on Thursday. Data obtained from SoSoValue revealed that Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB recorded $57.97 million in net outflows on Thursday.
Fidelity’s FBTC came in second, with $37.21 million in net outflows yesterday. However, there were also inflows, with BlackRock’s IBIT attracting $35.96 million from investors. Bitwise’s BITB saw net inflows of $2.65 million, followed by $2.44 million into Invesco’s BTCO.
The broader crypto market recorded mixed performances over the last 24 hours, with some major altcoins recording modest gains. Dogecoin is up 2% today and trades at $0.1078 per coin, making it the best performer amongst the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Aave is the best performer in the top 50, up 7%, thanks to Grayscale launching the Grayscale Aave Trust.
