Bitcoin (BTC-USD) Steadies at $113K as BlackRock’s IBIT Defies $756M ETF Exodus

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) Battles $113,000 as ETF Outflows, Tariff Tensions, and BlackRock’s Resilience Define Market Crossroads

ETF Exodus Marks a Turning Point in Institutional Sentiment

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is trading near $113,363, down 1.9% in the past 24 hours after one of the largest ETF outflow events since spot Bitcoin funds launched.
Data from SoSoValue shows that U.S.-listed Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs saw a combined $756 million in outflows on October 13, reversing two weeks of record inflows.
The sharp withdrawal signals an institutional cooldown following massive liquidations over the weekend, when tariffs, forced leverage unwinds, and rising volatility erased nearly $19 billion in crypto positions in hours.

The breakdown was broad: Grayscale’s GBTC led redemptions with $145.4 million, followed by Bitwise’s BITB ($115.6M) and Fidelity’s FBTC ($93.3M).
Smaller exits hit ARK 21Shares’ ARKB (-$21.1M) and VanEck’s HODL (-$11.4M).
Ethereum spot ETFs fared worse, suffering $428.5 million in outflows, driven by BlackRock’s ETHA (-$310.1M) and Grayscale’s ETHE (-$20.9M).

Despite the red tide, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) once again stood out—absorbing $60.4 million in inflows, marking its 10th consecutive positive session.
Its persistent demand helped cushion broader declines, reinforcing IBIT’s position as the institutional anchor of the spot ETF market.

Trump’s 100% Tariff Shock Amplifies Selloff Across Crypto Markets

The weekend’s crash was triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, reigniting the trade war narrative that had simmered for months.
The news sent risk assets tumbling, with Bitcoin plunging from $116,000 to below $110,000 within minutes and triggering mass liquidations across leveraged exchanges.
According to CoinGlass, more than $7 billion in crypto positions were wiped out overnight, marking one of the largest single-session deleveraging events of 2025.

Trump’s comments fueled global market anxiety, hitting Asian equities, commodities, and currencies before spilling into digital assets.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry’s vow to “fight to the end” further rattled investors.
With risk sentiment deteriorating and Treasury yields slipping, institutional desks shifted to short-term cash positions, leaving ETF issuers to absorb the shock.

BlackRock’s IBIT Becomes the Market’s Stabilizer

While peers faced outflows, BlackRock’s IBIT demonstrated resilience.
The fund’s net assets climbed to $65.61 billion, with total holdings reaching 804,944 BTC, valued at approximately $91.8 billion at current prices.
That stake represents 4.2% of Bitcoin’s total 21 million supply, surpassing MicroStrategy’s 640,031 BTC treasury—worth about $73 billion—by a wide margin.

IBIT’s growth underscores the divergence among ETF investors.
During the selloff, it continued to attract inflows while competitors faced redemptions, highlighting a split investor base: long-term holders consolidating in low-fee, high-liquidity ETFs, while speculative money exited smaller funds.
The behavior aligns with a structural maturation of the ETF market, where IBIT acts as a stabilizing anchor rather than a speculative instrument.

Institutional Dynamics: Inflows Cushion the Macro Shock

ETF flow data paints a clear picture: the crypto market’s institutional base is consolidating into stronger hands.
Between October 6 and 8, ETFs absorbed over $1.2 billion in daily inflows, the largest since April, front-loading liquidity into custodians just before the tariff-driven crash.
This “pre-shock intake” gave ETF managers a buffer against redemptions, with IBIT’s creations countering net outflows.

According to Farside Investors, total ETF redemptions on October 10 reached just $4.5 million, a trivial figure given the $6.6 billion in daily trading volumes.
Even as the broader complex turned negative on October 13, IBIT’s continued inflows neutralized much of the downside pressure, preventing Bitcoin from collapsing under $100,000.

Ethereum ETFs Lead the Retreat Amid Broader Market Cooling

Ethereum ETFs recorded heavier losses than Bitcoin, reflecting weaker speculative sentiment.
BlackRock’s ETHA posted $310.1 million in redemptions, followed by Fidelity’s FETH (-$19.1M) and Bitwise’s ETHW (-$12.8M).
Combined, Ethereum ETF outflows exceeded $14.5 billion year-to-date.
Despite this, BlackRock’s ETHA remains the third-fastest fund to reach $10 billion AUM, highlighting deep but volatile institutional engagement with Ethereum exposure.

The ETH/BTC ratio has dropped to 0.036, its lowest since March, as Bitcoin’s relative dominance strengthens—fueled by ETF preference and macro-safe-haven flows.
Yet, Ether’s ETF ecosystem still boasts $28.75 billion in assets, about 5.5% of Ethereum’s market capitalization, confirming that institutional exposure remains structurally intact.

Macroeconomic Pressures and the U.S. Shutdown Complicate ETF Flows

The ETF reversal comes as Washington grapples with a partial government shutdown entering its third week, delaying SEC review of 16 pending crypto ETFs—including funds tracking Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin.
This delay temporarily halts diversification in institutional exposure beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, concentrating liquidity in existing funds and amplifying volatility during macro shocks.

Kronos Research CIO Vincent Liu noted that investors are adopting defensive positioning, interpreting the outflows as “a pause rather than a pivot.”
Meanwhile, Bitget COO Vugar Usi Zade downplayed fears, calling the pause a “temporary regulatory glitch” likely to trigger a “wave of approvals” once the government reopens.

The sentiment aligns with market indicators: the Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell into the fear zone, dropping from 64% to 49%, signaling elevated caution but no capitulation.

Liquidity Stress and Derivatives Positioning: A Controlled Flush

On-chain data confirms that last week’s turbulence was driven more by derivatives liquidations than spot selling.
More than $7 billion in open interest was cleared, reducing speculative leverage and resetting market positioning.
The ETF complex, instead of triggering panic redemptions, acted as a shock absorber, limiting spillovers to spot exchanges.

Institutional traders are also recalibrating risk via derivatives: CME Bitcoin futures open interest fell 11.8%, while perpetual funding rates normalized to near zero.
These adjustments suggest that leveraged traders are now sidelined, reducing near-term volatility and positioning Bitcoin for a technical base-building phase.

BlackRock’s Market Dominance Redefines Bitcoin’s Supply Structure

With 804,944 BTC under management, BlackRock’s IBIT has become a structural market force, effectively absorbing liquidity shocks.
Its holdings now surpass MicroStrategy’s by 164,000 BTC, or roughly $18 billion, and represent one-fifth of all ETF-held Bitcoin globally.
At current trends, IBIT could cross the 1 million BTC threshold by mid-2026, tightening available supply and magnifying Bitcoin’s scarcity narrative.

CEO Larry Fink emphasized this strategic dominance in BlackRock’s Q3 report, noting that iShares ETFs attracted $205 billion in inflows, with $17 billion from digital assets alone.
He highlighted that the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has become the fastest-growing ETF in history, surpassing the $500,000 BTC threshold in December 2024 and approaching $100 billion AUM.

This institutional expansion strengthens the “digital gold” thesis, especially as Bitcoin’s correlation with gold approaches 0.83, near record highs.
The “debasement trade” narrative—hedging against U.S. fiscal imbalances and dollar erosion—is driving this institutional inflow wave despite short-term volatility.

Technical Levels: $112,500 Key Support and $103,500 Warning Zone

Technically, Bitcoin remains in a fragile but defendable structure.
The $112,500 short-term holder realized price—a key support identified by CryptoQuant—has been tested four times in the past six weeks.
Historically, this metric acts as a bull-market floor; however, repeated retests weaken its reliability.
If breached, analysts see $103,500 as the next defensive zone, aligning with a 10% deviation below the realized price, consistent with previous bull-cycle corrections.

Trading volumes remain robust at $90 billion daily, reflecting strong liquidity even amid risk aversion.
The BTC/USD pair faces resistance at $116,000, while the psychological barrier at $100,000 continues to attract institutional bids via IBIT and CME futures positioning.

Market Outlook: Institutional Base Remains Strong Despite Corrections

Despite the turbulence, Bitcoin’s institutional foundation appears intact.
ETF-driven inflows in early October, record AUM at BlackRock, and ongoing accumulation by corporate treasuries underscore durable demand.
With U.S. ETF assets still totaling $157.18 billion, Bitcoin’s financialization has reached unprecedented depth.
While short-term sentiment remains cautious, data shows that long-term capital—particularly within IBIT—is holding firm.

ETF redemptions, macro trade frictions, and political uncertainty have temporarily capped upside momentum, but they have also flushed speculative leverage, creating a more stable market base.
The next directional impulse will likely depend on upcoming CPI data, renewed Fed rate-cut signals, and the SEC’s ETF approval calendar once the government reopens.

Verdict: HOLD — Structural Strength Outweighs Temporary Weakness

Given the balance between BlackRock-led institutional stability and macro-driven caution, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) maintains a HOLD outlook.
The ETF outflows mark a short-term sentiment reset, not a structural reversal.
As long as IBIT continues to accumulate BTC and $112,500 support holds, downside risk remains contained.
If macro volatility eases and ETF approvals resume, Bitcoin could retest $120,000–$126,000 in Q4.
For now, the data affirms Bitcoin’s transformation into an institutional asset—volatile in the short term, but increasingly indispensable in global portfolios.

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