The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on a proposal from Nasdaq ISE to significantly increase position and exercise limits for options on BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT). The SEC extended its standard 45-day review period by an additional 45 days, pushing the new decision deadline to February 24. The proposal, filed on November 13, seeks to raise the current limits from 250,000 contracts to 1,000,000 contracts, aligning IBIT with the highest-tier limits applied to highly liquid ETFs.
This regulatory delay coincides with a stark shift in investor sentiment toward spot Bitcoin ETFs. On January 7, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a substantial net outflow of $486.9 million, nearly double the $243 million outflow from the previous day. This broad-based withdrawal was led by Fidelity's FBTC with outflows of $247.62 million, followed by BlackRock's IBIT at $130.79 million. Other funds, including Ark Invest's ARKB, Bitwise's BITB, VanEck's HODL, and Grayscale's GBTC, also saw notable outflows.
Despite the sector-wide outflows, BlackRock's IBIT had experienced a net inflow of $229 million just the day prior, on January 6. Analysts attribute the initial 2026 bullish start—with over $1.16 billion in net inflows across the first two trading days—to seasonal portfolio rebalancing and growing confidence in Bitcoin as a macro hedge. Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas noted the early pace could imply annualized inflows of up to $150 billion if sustained.
The market reaction was pronounced, with Bitcoin's price tumbling almost 3% in 24 hours to trade around $91,413. The drop was exacerbated by miner sell-offs, including Riot selling $162 million in Bitcoin, and geopolitical jitters following statements from former President Donald Trump. Trading volume increased by 22%, and derivatives data showed a slight decline in total BTC futures open interest to $61.57 billion.
