BitcoinMarkets
|3 min ReadBitcoin Slips Under $90K As ETF Cash Heads For The Exit
Lucca Menezes
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
Bitcoin’s rally has finally hit a real wall. The top cryptocurrency slipped below 91,000, but sentiment has clearly shifted from “ride the momentum” to “protect the profits.”
Over the last day, Bitcoin dropped about 4.5%, with on-chain watchers pointing to fresh movements from Mt. Gox wallets as one trigger. Roughly 185.5 BTC, around 4 trillion in mid October to about $3.2 trillion, as traders cut risk across the board.
ETFs Move From Buying Machine To Cash Tap
The bigger story sits in the ETF flows. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have bled about 3.56 billion outflow seen in February. Crypto exchange-traded products just had their heaviest week of withdrawals since that earlier peak, with global outflows around $2 billion as investors pulled money on rising macro uncertainty.
The pressure was highlighted by a record one-day withdrawal from BlackRock’s flagship Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, which saw 728.57 million last week, their third-largest weekly loss on record.
Shivam Thakral, CEO of Indian exchange BuyUCoin, told Decrypt that the market is shifting from a momentum phase to a risk-management phase. In his view, macroeconomic uncertainty is only part of the story. The other key drivers are profit protection by funds that entered earlier in the cycle and portfolio rebalancing after crypto massively outperformed traditional assets since 2023.
He stressed that institutions are not dumping Bitcoin because they suddenly hate it long term. They are reacting to a lack of fresh catalysts, slowing ETF inflows and a temporary move into risk-off positioning. Put simply, big players are trimming exposure, locking in gains and waiting for clearer macro signals before they reload.
Technical Signals Turn Sour As Bears Test The Floor
Technical charts are now flashing the kind of warnings traders do not like to ignore. Bitcoin’s slide has triggered a so-called death cross, where the 50-day moving average drops below the 200-day average, and the first weekly close below the 50-week moving average. These signals, highlighted by earlier Decrypt analysis, are classic markers of a potential shift into a full bear market.
Even so, Thakral argues that the downside still looks “relatively limited.” If ETF redemptions and selling flows continue, he sees Bitcoin potentially revisiting the 85,000 zone. That region lines up with both the cost basis of many long-term holders and clusters where ETF buyers previously piled in, which could offer support.
Prediction markets are less optimistic than they were. On Myriad, a derivatives platform owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, the odds that Bitcoin reaches 85,000 have dropped sharply, sliding from 66.7% to about 25%. Traders there are now pricing a much higher chance of a deeper pullback before any new all-time high.
For now, the picture is clear. Bitcoin is no longer trading like a one-way bet. ETF money is stepping back. Technicals are flashing caution. The next big move will likely depend less on crypto headlines and more on when macro conditions and institutional appetite turn back in Bitcoin’s favor.
Disclaimer: This document is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed in this document are not, and should not be taken as, investment advice or recommendations. Recipients should do their own due diligence, taking into account their specific financial circumstances, investment objectives and risk tolerance, which are not considered here, before investing. This document is not an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets mentioned.