The Bigger Picture
If we look at the Spot ETFs, we see a lot of red over the past few weeks. Bitcoin worth hundreds of millions of dollars has been sold every single day. That’s definitely not a small amount. But to put things into perspective, you have to zoom out.
Looking at Bitcoin holdings instead of dollar value (a much cleaner metric since it removes price effects), ETF holdings peaked at around 1.38 million BTC in October 2025 and later declined to roughly 1.22–1.28 million BTC. That’s only a 7–9% drop.
This shows that ETF investors are actually strong hodlers. Most of the selling seems to be coming from other groups, such as whales and early OGs who started cashing out after Bitcoin moved above $100k.
I actually find this quite surprising, but it suggests that most ETF investors aren’t here for a quick 20% gain. They’re positioning for the next major move toward $1 million Bitcoin. It also helps that, for many of them, Bitcoin represents only a small allocation, often around 1% of their overall portfolio, making it much easier to hold through volatility.