Bitcoin falls below $60,000 as institutional outflows hit record streak

Bitcoin has fallen below $60,000 for the first time in nine months as institutional outflows from US-listed spot ETFs stretched to a record length. The cryptocurrency's weekly return also hit its worst level in 47 months, raising questions about whether the $60,000 floor can hold.

According to SosoValue, the 13 US-listed bitcoin spot ETFs recorded net outflows for 13 consecutive trading days from May 15 through June 3 — the longest such streak since the products launched on Jan. 10, 2024. A total of $4.34 billion (about 6.77 trillion won) left the funds during that period. The previous record was eight consecutive trading days of net outflows in February last year, when $3.27 billion (about 5.10 trillion won) exited the funds over the Feb. 18–27 stretch.

Bitcoin broke below $60,000 for the first time since last September, deepening concerns about further declines. According to CoinMarketCap, the token touched $59,156 at around 3:55 a.m. Friday before recovering to near $62,000 by around 8 a.m. and has since traded in a range around the $60,000 level. The most recent weekly return, covering May 25–31, came in at minus 17.28 percent — the worst weekly performance since the June 13–29, 2022 period, when bitcoin lost 22.85 percent.

Bitcoin is under pressure from several fronts. The prolonged US-Iran war has pushed oil prices higher, stoking inflation fears and expectations of rising interest rates. Sentiment was further dented when Strategy, the publicly listed company that has been the largest corporate buyer of bitcoin, sold 32 bitcoin. Legislative momentum is also fading: the CLARITY Act, the key US digital-asset regulatory bill, faces possible delays in a Senate floor vote due to disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties. A broader shift of capital toward AI-themed assets — drawing funds away from the digital-asset market — has also been cited as a drag.

The institutional outflows are compounding the downward pressure. Since the spot ETFs launched, sustained inflows of long-term capital had built what the market called the "ETF effect" — a price floor underpinned by steady institutional buying. Family offices, hedge funds and other firms gained an indirect route into bitcoin through ETFs, reducing the risk of holding the asset directly. Around the time bitcoin hit its all-time high of $126,000 last October, ETFs drew net inflows for nine consecutive trading days from Sept. 29 to Oct. 9, 2025, totaling $5.96 billion, helping drive the price surge.

Park Sung-je, a researcher at Shinhan Investment, said the sharp drop in bitcoin reflected a combination of an ETF supply-demand vacuum and deleveraging in the derivatives market rather than Strategy's sale of 32 bitcoin alone. "Strategy's sale carried more symbolic weight than actual scale — the real price pressure came from spot ETF net outflows, falling trading volume and the unwinding of long positions," he said. He added that in the near term, confirming a turnaround to net ETF inflows and a recovery in trading volume should take priority over buying bitcoin at current levels.

비트코인 4개월 만 최저가인데…스테이블코인 거래대금은 왜 최고치 찍었나 [크립토360]

https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10764590