Bitcoin Turns Positive For The Week, Despite Pressure From GBTC To Sell

(CTN News) – Investors took comfort from the possibility that Grayscale Bitcoin ETF (GBTC) outflows might be tapering off as bitcoin climbed higher to end the week.

According to Coin Metrics, the cryptocurrency climbed over 5% to $41,828.37, slightly increasing its weekly gains to less than 1%.

The price of Ethereum traded at $2,270.92 on Friday, up 2%. The index is on pace to decline nearly 9% this week.

Thursday was one of the lowest days for net outflows from GBTC, and was the third consecutive day of declining outflows, indicating a slowdown in redemptions, Needham’s John Todaro said.

Although it has been difficult to quantify how much more should leave GBTC, we believe two of the largest factors driving selling – outflows driven by FTX estates and arbitrage funds – are nearing their end.

Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, JPMorgan strategist, made a similar observation on Thursday, saying “GBTC profit taking has largely happened already… which would suggest that most of the downward pressure on bitcoin from that channel has passed.”

In a widely anticipated correction following the approval and launch of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., bitcoin fell sharply at the start of the week and fell below $39,000 for the first time since early December.

Some chart analysts had predicted a calamity earlier this week, but it wasn’t as severe as they had predicted. Despite charts indicating bitcoin’s long-term uptrend still holds, some analysts expect the cryptocurrency to fall to as low as $36,000 in the near future.

There has been an outperformance of bitcoin mining stocks over the cryptocurrency itself. The stock of Riot Platforms rose by 6% on Friday. A 9% gain this week would mark the first positive week in five for the stock. The share price of Marathon Digital is up by 10% and the company is on track for a weekly gain of 11%.

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