Bitcoin ETF outflows widen as Asian equity rout tests $60,000 floor before Fed verdict
Bitcoin slipped below $64,000 as Korean and Japanese equities tumbled, spot ETF withdrawals continued and traders awaited the Fed's rate decision.
Bitcoin fell below $64,000 on 28 July, trading near $63,490, as a sharp sell-off across Asian equity markets combined with continued withdrawals from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds to sour risk appetite ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate decision. The token dropped roughly 2.85% over 24 hours, moving within a range of approximately $63,055 to $65,546, according to crypto.news market data.
The retreat highlights how tightly bitcoin’s near-term path is now bound to macroeconomic signals rather than crypto-specific catalysts, with institutional flows and monetary policy expectations doing more to move price than on-chain developments.
Seoul’s circuit breaker sets the tone
South Korea’s KOSPI index fell more than 8% on Tuesday morning, prompting the Korea Exchange to trigger a Level 1 circuit breaker and suspend marketwide trading for 20 minutes after the decline held above the required threshold for a full minute. Selling resumed once trading reopened, and the index ultimately closed down almost 10% for the session.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each lost more than 12%, with investors citing concerns over heavy artificial-intelligence capital spending, financing risk and intensifying competition from Chinese semiconductor manufacturers. Japan’s Nikkei fell around 4% in sympathy, extending losses that had already hit the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, down 2.2% during Monday’s US session, while Nvidia shares fell 5%.
Bitcoin has historically tracked equities during broad, rate-driven or liquidity-driven risk-off episodes, though the relationship weakens when selling is confined to sector-specific earnings or spending concerns. Tuesday’s price action suggests traders initially treated the technology-led Asian rout as a systemic risk event rather than an isolated semiconductor story, though the simultaneous approach of the Fed decision, GDP figures and core PCE inflation data makes it difficult to isolate a single driver.
ETF withdrawals persist even as larger wallets buy
US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a further $11.64 million in net outflows on Monday, with BlackRock’s IBIT registering the largest single-fund withdrawal. The continued, if modest, exodus from listed products points to institutional caution heading into the Fed’s announcement, even as underlying blockchain data shows a divergent pattern among larger private holders.
Wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC — a cohort typically associated with high-net-worth investors and smaller institutional desks rather than exchanges or funds — added 19,696 coins over the most recent eight-day tracking period. The split between fund-level selling and wallet-level accumulation suggests that regulated vehicles are being used tactically to trim exposure ahead of the rate decision, while direct holders are treating the dip as a buying opportunity.
Technical picture points to indecision
Bitcoin remains confined to the $60,000–$66,000 band that has held since June’s sharp decline, itself part of a broader downtrend from the asset’s previous peak above $100,000. On the daily chart, the relative strength index reads 46.77, below its moving average of 53.49, indicating a modest tilt towards sellers without approaching oversold territory.
The moving average convergence divergence indicator has also softened, with its histogram at roughly minus 104.93 and the MACD line near 219.58 sitting below the signal line at approximately 324.51. Compressed volatility, whale accumulation and an unresolved macro calendar leave the near-term direction genuinely uncertain until the Fed, along with GDP and core PCE readings, delivers clarity that markets can trade against.
Read more: Bitcoin retreats as bond yields and oil prices revive Fed rate-hike odds
