Key facts
- Nine firms cut 68,000 BTC worth of spot Bitcoin ETF holdings, accounting for all of the institutional decline.
- Morgan Stanley's wealth arm, Mubadala and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council were among the buyers of Bitcoin ETFs.
- The shrinking basis between spot Bitcoin ETFs and CME Bitcoin futures is cited as the reason for selling.
- Asset managers' net long position in CME Bitcoin futures dropped 57% from Bitcoin's all-time high.
A handful of hedge funds and banks drove almost all of the institutional selling in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, while wealth platforms and sovereign funds stepped in to buy, according to a Galaxy Research report. Institutions that file quarterly 13F reports with the SEC held 355,000 BTC worth of spot ETF shares at the end of September 2025. By June 2026, that had fallen to 307,000 BTC, a 14% drop. Nine firms, including Millennium Management, Goldman Sachs and Tudor Investment, cut 68,000 BTC in exposure, while other filers added about 20,000 BTC. Morgan Stanley's wealth management arm, Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council were among the buyers.