GBTC profit-taking almost concluded, JPMorgan says

• JPMorgan analysts said in a note on Thursday that Bitcoin’s downside pressure could be easing amid a downtrend in GBTC outflows.
• Grayscale’s GBTC has seen over $4.3 billion in outflows amid profit-taking.
• Bitcoin price hovered around $39,800 as bulls struggled to reclaim the $40k level.

The selling pressure that hit Bitcoin (BTC) in the aftermath of the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs has largely eased off, according to analysts at JPMorgan.

A research note the analysts at the bank, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou published on Thursday, suggests that the level of outflows witnessed with Grayscale’s GBTC shows the expected profit-taking has already occurred.

GBTC outflows reducing, but…

On Wednesday, January 24, GBTC outflows hit $425 million for the day, a scenario Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said was the “lowest bleed since day one.” While still a large figure, the amount decline showed the outflows were “seemingly trending down,” he added.

On January 25, Balchunas noted that while GBTC outflows had continued to trend down, the other ETFs had also recorded a significant dip in inflows. 

According to James Seyffart, BlackRock took in only $66 million on day 9 of its IBIT spot ETF trading, with the group of spot Bitcoin ETFs that began trading on January 11 seeing a net outflow of $158 million.

The good news: GBTC outflows trending down. The bad news: so are the Nine’s. That leaves us with TOTAL ROLLING NET FLOWS of +$824m. Also $ARKB and $BITB crossing half a billion is remarkable. For any normal launch in first month that’s considered blockbuster-level success. https://t.co/jPtlxhMtwP

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 25, 2024

But in their note, JPMorgan says that with $4.3 billion in outflows so far, GBTC has surpassed analysts’ estimates of $3 billion. Given this outlook, it is possible the rough patch occasioned by the GBTC hemorrhage is done, Panigirtzoglou wrote. 

Bitcoin price traded at $39,878 at 1:30 pm ET on Thursday, still struggling to reclaim the $40k mark after Wednesday’s dump to lows of $38,600. The current price level sees BTC hover nearly 20% down since breaking lower from highs of $49k.