Analyst: $1.3 Billion IBIT Block Trade Could Trigger Bitcoin Flash Crash

Odaily An unknown trader sold approximately $1.3 billion worth of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) on a dark pool on Tuesday, sparking market attention.

Data shows the trader sold 29.2 million shares of IBIT at $43.16 per share around 14:30 UTC. Consequently, Bitcoin’s price dropped from $77,875 to $76,720 within 10 minutes, a decline of about 1.5%, before further dipping to around $75,600.

Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital, stated this is the largest IBIT dark pool trade he has ever seen. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that the trade size was 22 times larger than the second-largest IBIT sell order of the day.

Additionally, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have experienced net outflows for eight consecutive trading days. On Tuesday alone, net outflows totaled approximately $333.6 million, with IBIT seeing outflows of about $192.4 million. Since May 14, cumulative net outflows from Bitcoin ETFs have exceeded $2 billion. Reports indicate that Jane Street reduced its Bitcoin ETF holdings by about 70% in the first quarter, while Goldman Sachs also trimmed its positions by approximately 10%. (Cointelegraph)