Institutional investment managers continued to sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) last week, though the magnitude of the outflows have declined substantially from previous weeks, offering early signs that the worst of the market sell-off has subsided.
CoinShares’ weekly fund flows report showed a $21.4 million drawdown over the previous seven days, compared with a $94 million outflow the previous week. Ether products registered their biggest weekly drawdown at $12.7 million. Funds dedicated to ETH had been outperforming Bitcoin in recent months, reflecting pent-up demand for the second-largest cryptocurrency.
All said, institutional investors have been net sellers of digital assets in four of the past five weeks. The period ending May 24 saw the biggest weekly outflow at $97 million, according to CoinShares data.
Related: Record $141M outflow from Bitcoin products signals institutions are bearish on BTC: CoinShares
“While sentiment has weakened over the last month investors on the whole remain committed given the magnitude of inflows seen this year,” the report says, alluding to the fact that crypto investment funds have raised $5.8 billion this year alone. That’s within 13% of the $6.7 billion inflows registered in all of 2020.
As Cointelegraph reported, crypto holdings among institutional managers reached record levels during the height of the bull market earlier this year. Naturally, many investors have been taking profits following the most recent bout of market volatility.
Nevertheless, the weekly fund flows report suggests market sentiment is gradually improving. Case in point: The Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index has rebounded from extreme lows despite remaining on the bearish side. Meanwhile, Bitcoin's price pierced above $41,000 on Monday, marking a 12% gain as markets eyed recovery above key technical levels. The price of Ether also recovered 9% to hit $2,566.