Which institutions are buying and selling $BTC spot ETFs in the fourth quarter of 2025? Are institutions fleeing?
Today I saw ETF data organized by @JSeyff. James didn't elaborate much, so I'll share my understanding.
From the data, although Bitcoin's price has been on a downward trend in the fourth quarter, this is not a collective flight from institutions, but rather an internal turnover within institutions. Trading or arbitrage institutions are selling to reduce risk, while long-term investment funds are stepping in.
The summary chart of institutional types shows that the total disclosed exposure under current regulations is approximately $27.3 billion, corresponding to 311,700 BTC, with a single period change of a decrease of 25,098 BTC. This number is indeed substantial, indicating a net reduction in positions by institutions this period, which is an undeniable fact.
However, this is data for one quarter, meaning that over three months, an institution reduced its holdings by 25,000 BTC, which accounts for an 8% reduction in positions relative to institutional holdings. This data is not large, so it cannot be said that institutions are collapsing or fleeing, and we also need to look at detailed data.
Structurally, the exposure is still highly concentrated in the trading and intermediary systems of traditional finance. Among them:
Investment Advisor
Hedge Fund Manager
Brokerage
These three categories together account for about 273,000 BTC, close to 88% of the total disclosed exposure.
This indicates that the main force in institutional holdings remains with the funds capable of quickly adjusting positions, hedging, and arbitraging. Therefore, when market volatility increases, these types of funds are the first to exit, which is very normal. However, the scale of exit seems more like risk control, position recovery, and strategy rebalancing, rather than a comprehensive market bearish liquidation.
Looking at the institutions that increased their holdings, the main ones include:
Holding Company +6,970 BTC
Government +2,247 BTC
Unclassified +1,278 BTC
Some family offices, insurance, and private equity funds are also slightly increasing their positions. This indicates that there is still capital buying in, especially from companies making strategic reserves, which continue to increase their holdings in the fourth quarter despite the general tension.
Note: This is ETF data, not actual $BTC holdings data, so entities like $MSTR are not included in this 13F statistical data.
If we look at the specific list of institutions, this differentiation becomes even more apparent.
Notable increases come from familiar names like Millennium, Jane Street, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Citadel, and relevant entities in Abu Dhabi, all buying Bitcoin spot ETFs, thus indirectly holding Bitcoin.
On the selling side, we can see Brevan Howard, Goldman Sachs, and some multi-strategy funds and trading institutions selling off.
This is why I say there is not a unified bearish flight trend among institutions, but rather a very typical divergent market. Some institutions are reducing risk appetite, others are reallocating, and some are continuing to build positions.
Therefore, in my view, the institutional reduction in the fourth quarter seems more like a risk appetite reduction led by trading or arbitrage funds, rather than a full retreat by long-term capital.
Thus, the data indicates that institutions are not universally bearish on Bitcoin, let alone fleeing, but rather that there is a clearer internal differentiation within institutions, entering a stage of position rebalancing. For the market, this kind of stage often leads to emotional interpretations, as price declines amplify panic, but the funding structure itself does not show signs of indiscriminate withdrawal.
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