BitcoinMarkets
|3 min ReadBitcoin slips below $112,000 as ETF outflows bite
Carter Hayes
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
ETF outflows and a risk-off mood
Bitcoin reversed lower on Tuesday as investors pulled cash from crypto funds and risk appetite cooled after last weekend’s historic wipeout. According to The Block’s price page, the largest cryptocurrency traded below $112,000, extending a two-day slide that began when spot ETF flows turned negative. The 3% drop bled into majors across the board. BNB was hit hardest in the top ten, nearly down double digits.
U.S. spot bitcoin and ether ETFs posted a combined $755 million in net outflows on Tuesday, The Block reported. Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN, said redemptions “accelerated,” alongside a sharp drop in open interest, a sign leverage has stepped back as gold pushed to fresh highs and U.S. equities rebounded on Monday. The setup keeps crypto on the defensive in the near term, he added.
Derivatives flash defense, options skew bearish
“Derivatives and on-chain signals also point to derisking,” Misir noted. Perp DEX open interest plunged from 14 billion during the crash, weekly DEX volume hit a record 20 million in a single day, per DeFiLlama’s data shared here: https://x.com/DefiLlama/status/1977916947669918079.
Options desks see the same tilt. Aggregated open interest in BTC options remains elevated, but flows rotated toward downside protection after the crash. Traders favored near-dated puts and sold upside calls, said Nick Forster, founder of onchain venue Derive. “In BTC options, we saw heavy buying of 95K puts for the October 31 expiry, alongside a sharp reversal from call buying to call selling at the $125K strike (October 17 expiry), signaling a bearish near-term outlook,” Forster wrote.
Macro tensions keep pressure on
Macro tensions still shadow the tape. QCP Capital cited renewed U.S.–China trade frictions — 100% U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports and reports of Chinese export curbs — as triggers for the cascade that wiped an estimated 20 billion in leveraged positions before prices stabilized. Meanwhile, data from CoinGlass showed over 110,000: https://www.coinglass.com/LiquidationData.
Bottom line: outflows, tighter positioning, and policy noise have bulls on their heels. Fresh institutional demand will be needed to flip momentum. Until then, it’s a market that respects cash, depth, and patience.
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