Spot Bitcoin ETFs Shed $635.6M in a Day as Oil Spike Drives Risk-Off Turn

U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds bled $635.6 million in a single trading session on Thursday, according to flow data from Farside Investors, as an oil price spike triggered by a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia pushed investors into risk-off mode. It is the sharpest single-day redemption of the week, though it does not erase the funds' weekly net inflows of more than $439 million.

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust absorbed the largest share of the selling, with investors cashing out over $254 million. Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund followed, shedding close to $218 million — together, the two issuers accounted for roughly three-quarters of the day's total outflows.

The remaining redemptions spread across smaller vehicles:

• ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF: over $109 million in outflows
• Morgan Stanley's fund: nearly $30 million
• Bitwise Bitcoin ETF: more than $27 million

The selling pressure coincided with a dip in bitcoin's price below $81,000 during Thursday trading. The coin has since recovered to roughly $81,669, down about 1% over a 24-hour period.

Why did oil move bitcoin ETFs?

The proximate catalyst was geopolitical. Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked Saudi Arabia on Thursday, sending Brent crude to its highest level in five months and stoking concern over further disruption to energy supplies. Brent's jump matters for crypto investors because a sustained oil rise raises the probability that the U.S. Federal Reserve keeps interest rates higher — an environment in which bitcoin, which typically performs best when liquidity is abundant, tends to struggle.

The Strait of Hormuz sits at the center of that worry. Roughly a fifth of the world's oil passes through the strategic waterway, and shipping has struggled to transit it since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran earlier this year, disrupting supply routes and rattling bitcoin's price throughout 2026. Tech equities sold off alongside crypto on Thursday, unwinding gains the sector had posted earlier in the week after SpaceX's earnings beat.

A one-day outflow figure, however, is a weak signal on its own. The same funds have attracted net positive investment of over $439 million this week, meaning Thursday's redemptions reversed only a portion of recent inflows.

Is the bull market narrative intact?

Analysts maintain that bitcoin has re-entered a bull market, and the chart data partly supports that claim. Last month the cryptocurrency crossed above its 365-day moving average — a conventional marker for exiting a bear phase — after a strong run through August.

The longer arc remains volatile. Bitcoin set its all-time record of $126,080 in October 2025, then slid later that month when the largest liquidation event in crypto history closed over $19 billion in leveraged positions. The coin spent the first half of 2026 trading well below that peak before rebounding in August and September, which marked its best quarter in years.

The practical takeaway: ETF flows are now tightly coupled to macro events far outside crypto, and energy-market disruptions in the Middle East can move fund redemptions within hours.

Whether Thursday's risk-off turn proves a one-session reversal or the start of a sustained outflow streak will become clear in the coming week's flow data — and in whether Brent crude extends its five-month high.