Bitcoin’s keen decline over the weekend likely pushed investors’ total positioning in the largest Bitcoin spot fund (ETF) into negative territory, underscoring the severity of the recent economic downturn.
The average dollar invested in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is currently below Friday’s close, according to Bob Elliott, chief investment officer at asset manager Unlimited Funds. This change coincided with a keen decline in the price of Bitcoin (BTC), which dropped to the mid-$70,000 range.
Elliott shared a chart showing aggregate investor returns on a dollar-weighted basis, showing that cumulative returns at the end of January fell slightly to negative territory.
The data suggests that while early IBIT investors may continue to make profits, higher inflows at higher price levels have pushed overall dollar-weighted returns below zero. As a result, cumulative gains since the fund’s launch have now been wiped out on a dollar basis.
By comparison, IBIT’s dollar-weighted yield peaked at around $35 billion in October, when Bitcoin was trading at record highs.
IBIT is one of BlackRock’s most successful ETF launches, becoming the fastest fund to reach $70 billion in assets under management. In October, reports showed that IBIT generated about $25 million more in fees than the asset manager’s second-most profitable ETF.
Independent Thisand on Yahoo Finance shows that IBIT’s net asset value has declined in recent weeks, consistent with the broader Bitcoin sell-off. The decline helps explain why aggregate, dollar-weighted investor returns have fallen to negative levels.
Related: Crypto Investment Guide 2026: Bitcoin, Stablecoin Infrastructure, Tokenized Assets
Bitcoin ETF outflows are accelerating
The deterioration in dollar-weighted returns from Bitcoin ETFs is unfolding amid a broader pullback from cryptocurrency investment products as investors reduce exposure in the face of falling prices.
In the week ending January 25, digital asset investment products saw almost $1.1 billion in outflows from Bitcoin funds alone, while total cryptocurrency fund outflows reached $1.73 billion – the largest weekly withdrawal since mid-November, according to CoinShares. Outflows were highly concentrated in the United States.
“Decreasing expectations for interest rate cuts, negative price momentum, and disappointment that digital assets have not participated in the value-depressing trade are nonetheless likely to be driving these outflows,” CoinShares said.
“Devaluation trading” refers to placing assets in assets that are expected to retain their value in the face of inflation and currency dilution. Bitcoin was widely seen as a candidate for this role due to its fixed supply and monetary structure.
However, it has not yet attracted these flows to the same extent as gold. Despite the recent slowdown, gold has been on an upward trend for over a year and recently reached record highs above $5,400 per troy ounce.
Related: $1.82 billion pulled from spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs as metals rally
