On November 2, 2026, investors withdrew approximately $403 million worth of Bitcoin from BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in just one day.
The data for fund flows indicated that IBIT experienced a net outflow of $405.3 million, marking the highest level of redemptions for the fund since June 26 of the current year.
Estimates for the selling driven by clients range between $403 million and $405 million, with the exact figure varying based on the source of the data.
The underlying mechanics are crucial to this situation. It was not BlackRock’s decision to offload Bitcoin; rather, clients redeemed their ETF shares, necessitating the release of the corresponding Bitcoin to fulfill those transactions.
The Bitcoin that was released primarily went to Coinbase Prime, the institutional trading division of Coinbase, where it was subsequently sold. Thus, the Bitcoin ultimately reached the market due to investor actions, not a directive from BlackRock’s trading team.
During the same day, total net outflows across all US spot Bitcoin ETFs amounted to approximately $398.6 million. However, one fund, Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), experienced a modest inflow of $6.7 million.
The $405.3 million outflow from IBIT, counterbalanced by FBTC’s $6.7 million inflow, aligns closely with the collective total for the sector. Essentially, BlackRock’s fund represented nearly all the net selling pressure among US spot Bitcoin ETFs that day.
This wasn’t just a one-off incident; the redemptions on November 2 continued a trend of outflows for IBIT, which has seen more than $1 billion withdrawn over a five-day period.
This trend coincided with a downturn in tech stocks, primarily affecting the Nasdaq index in early November.
Bitcoin itself has remained fairly stable, fluctuating between $76,000 and $80,000.
Despite the losses, IBIT remains the largest Bitcoin ETF in the US, leading the sector in both assets under management and total historical inflows.
A key impact of these redemptions is on Bitcoin’s supply. Each redemption that results in sales via Coinbase Prime increases Bitcoin availability in the market. With total IBIT redemptions surpassing $1 billion in just five sessions, this additional supply might put downward pressure on prices if demand from other investors does not keep up.
The selling was predominantly concentrated in IBIT, while Fidelity’s FBTC recorded a small inflow. This could suggest that investors are reconfiguring their holdings or that a specific group of IBIT investors chose to exit, rather than indicating a broad exit from the market.
It’s worth remembering the context of June 26, the last instance when IBIT experienced similarly significant redemptions.