Ark Invest disclosed a significant portfolio rebalancing on Monday, purchasing 65,615 shares of Circle Internet Group (CRCL) worth $5.2 million for its Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), while selling $15.9 million of its own ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) across two investment funds as Bitcoin continued to slide from early October highs.
Circle remained ARKW's fifth-largest holding at a 4.3% weighting, valued around $67.8 million, behind Tesla, Meta, Shopify, and Amazon. Circle shares fell 7.1% on Monday to close at $79.84, and were down another 1.1% in pre-market trading Tuesday. Despite the sale, ARKB remained a top-10 allocation in both ARKW and the ARK Blockchain and Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), with weightings of 3.7% and 3.8%, valued at approximately $58.2 million and $29.1 million respectively. Since its January 2024 launch, ARKB has drawn about $1.1 billion in net inflows and holds $2.5 billion in assets under management.
Bitcoin traded around $79,625 Tuesday morning, below the $80,000 mark and down 8.7% from its October high near $87,200. LMAX Group market strategist Joel Kruger attributed weakness to Middle East tensions, higher oil prices, uneven institutional demand, thin weekend trading, and leveraged liquidations. Derive founder and CEO Nick Forster said traders were increasingly positioning for further downside, with the $80,000 strike the most actively traded bitcoin options level; puts accounted for 91% of the roughly $32 million traded there over the past week.
Adding to the bearish tone, angel investor Jason Calacanis told his followers on X to sell bitcoin, forecasting a decline to $57,000 within twelve months and no new all-time high. He argued that ETF outflows would continue, social pressure to own bitcoin has disappeared, and capital has better opportunities in AI. Calacanis later disclosed he is long TAO, the token behind Bittensor. His call contrasted sharply with Galaxy Research, which published a bullish view the same morning, saying the bear market ended in June and the current period is an attractive time to buy and hold. Galaxy set a thesis invalidation level at a weekly close below $76,540.
US spot bitcoin ETF flow data was mixed. Funds lost $635.49 million on 22 October and $137.94 million on 23 October, then took in $110.34 million on 26 October, with BlackRock’s IBIT accounting for the entire daily inflow. Across the six sessions to 26 October, net inflows totaled $415.07 million. Cumulative net inflows stand at $57.29 billion, with funds holding $102.84 billion, equivalent to about 6.41% of bitcoin’s market capitalization. The Federal Reserve’s rate decision on 28 October is the next major macro catalyst.
