There is a new mysterious trade, but this time it is not ahead of a major political announcement. On May 26, a block of 29 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) traded du
There is a new mysterious trade, but this time it is not ahead of a major political announcement.
On May 26, a block of 29 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) traded during the morning hours.
IBIT launched in January 2024 as one of the first spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approved by the SEC in the United States.
It gives investors direct exposure to Bitcoin's price through a regulated, exchange-traded product, without requiring them to hold the cryptocurrency themselves.
It quickly became the largest Bitcoin ETF by assets under management (AUM), with $66.57 billion as of press time, making it the go-to vehicle for institutional money flowing into crypto.
Which is exactly what makes what happened on May 26 so striking.
Related: BlackRock 'closing in' on $17 billion bitcoin competitor
At exactly 10:30:34 in the morning, a single block of 29.2 million IBIT shares changed hands at $43.16. It was executed quietly off-exchange through a dark pool, flagged in Bloomberg's trade recap with condition codes pointing to FINRA's TRF Carteret facility. The total value was approximately $1.289 billion.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas confirmed the trade on X.
"Confirmed.. 29 million share trade ($1.3b) of $IBIT executed at 1030am this morning. This screen shows all the IBIT trades today by size and you can see one of these is not like the others."
He also attached a screenshot of the trade in the Bloomberg terminal.
IBIT trade of over 29 million shares To put that in perspective, the next largest trade of the entire session was just 1.3 million shares at around 4:30 PM.
Alex Thorn, Managing Director and Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy Digital, didn't mince words. On X, he wrote,
"massive $1.289 billion IBIT block sale by unknown party through dark pool at 10:30am today, biggest such trade i've ever seen"
A dark pool sale is a large transaction executed on a private, off-exchange trading venue, away from public markets.
The trade details, such as price, size, and parties involved, are only reported after execution, not in real time. The whole point is to protect the seller from moving the market against themselves mid-trade.
In the latest IBIT trade, it worked up to a point. But the aftermath was visible enough. At press time, IBIT was trading 1.58% lower during market hours and dropping to a new low in almost a month at $42.32.
Bitcoin price movement on May 27Bitcoin itself fell in tandem, retreating from the range of $77,000 just a day earlier to $74,724, after a drop of 1.4%, as per Decibel.
Related: Michael Saylor outlines growth potential of ‘profoundly important’ Bitcoin ETFs
