Bitcoin Falls Below $73,000 as ETF Outflows Hit 2026 Highs

TL;DR

• BTC is down 3% and briefly dropped below $73,000.
• The bearish performance comes after spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $733 million on Wednesday. 

Crypto Market Slips in Broad Risk-Off Move

Bitcoin dropped below $73,000 early Thursday, falling 3.6% to $72,842 as the broader crypto market came under pressure from heavy selling and ETF outflows.

Other major cryptocurrencies also declined: Ethereum fell 4.8% to $1,974, XRP dropped 3.5%, and Solana slid 3.6%

The bearish performance comes as spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest net outflows since late January.

Market analysts say the decline reflects a mix of macroeconomic caution and technical selling pressure.

Bitcoin ETF Outflows Hit $733 Million in a Day

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $733.4 million in net outflows on Wednesday, the largest daily withdrawal since January 29, according to CoinGlass data.

Key outflows included: BlackRock’s IBIT: -$527.8M (second-largest outflow since launch), and Grayscale’s GBTC: -$104.8M. Multiple ETFs from Fidelity, Bitwise, Ark & 21Shares also posted outflows. Only Morgan Stanley’s MSBT recorded inflows (+$4.3M)

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted a massive 29.2 million-share block trade in IBIT earlier in the week, worth roughly $1.3 billion.

Confirmed.. 29 million share trade ($1.3b) of $IBIT executed at 1030am this morning. This screen shows all the IBIT trades today by size and you can see one of these is not like the others. Price unchanged today so mkt absorbed it well. https://t.co/Otew0DWa3F pic.twitter.com/jZcoKez74K

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) May 26, 2026

This pushed total Bitcoin ETF trading volume to $4.4 billion, the highest since mid-April.

Traders are now watching whether Bitcoin can hold the $70,000 support level. Analysts warn that sustained ETF outflows could signal deeper institutional repositioning away from crypto markets in the short term.

With ETF flows weakening and macro uncertainty rising, traders expect continued volatility across both crypto and traditional markets, especially as institutional positioning adjusts to shifting risk appetite.