It was not a great Thursday for crypto ETF bulls. U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs shed a combined $310.62 million in net outflows on July 24, with institutional money exiting both products in a single day of coordinated selling pressure.

Bitcoin ETFs bore the brunt of it, recording approximately $240.1 million in net outflows. Ethereum ETFs followed with around $70.7 million in redemptions.

BlackRock led the selling

Here’s the thing about these outflow numbers: they were not spread evenly across issuers. BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest Bitcoin ETF by assets, accounted for roughly $212 million of the Bitcoin outflows alone.

On the Ethereum side, BlackRock’s ETHA product drove approximately $52.8 million of the outflows, making it the primary source of redemptions within that category as well.

It is worth noting that secondary data sources produced slightly different reads on the day. Lookonchain, citing on-chain data, reported Bitcoin outflows closer to $226 million, and flagged minor Ethereum inflows in some breakdowns. ETF flow data is notoriously difficult to pin down in real time, given settlement timing and methodology differences between trackers. The directional story, however, was consistent across sources: money was moving out.

Why it happened

Context matters here. The outflows on July 24 did not emerge from a vacuum. Two forces were operating simultaneously in the background.

First, geopolitical tension tied to U.S.-Iran relations was weighing on broader market sentiment. Second, equity markets sold off on the same day, reinforcing the risk-reduction theme.

Bitcoin also briefly dipped below $65,000 during the session, a level that has historically acted as a psychological marker for retail and institutional participants alike.

The outflow also reversed what had been a recovering trend. Bitcoin ETFs had been clawing back positive flow momentum after a bruising stretch earlier in the year, when the products saw an eight-week consecutive outflow streak that collectively exceeded $8 billion.

What this means for investors watching ETF flows

ETF flow data has become one of the cleaner signals for institutional sentiment in crypto, precisely because it reflects actual capital movement rather than social media noise or futures positioning. When $240 million exits Bitcoin ETFs in a single session, that is real money, real decisions, and a real read on how institutional desks are thinking.

The BlackRock concentration adds a layer of interpretation. IBIT’s dominance in the Bitcoin ETF market means its flows carry disproportionate weight. A large outflow day from IBIT does not necessarily mean all institutional investors are turning bearish; it could reflect one or two large redemption orders from specific clients rebalancing exposure. But it is hard to look at $212 million leaving the market’s flagship product and call it noise.

For investors tracking the Ethereum ETF story specifically, the ETHA outflows are worth monitoring. Ethereum ETFs have had a more complicated run than their Bitcoin counterparts since launch, with slower adoption and smaller overall assets under management. A $52.8 million outflow from ETHA in a single day represents a meaningful percentage move relative to the product’s size.