Binance Bitcoin Outflow Hits 2023 High as ETFs Rebound and Options Expire

Bitcoin held near $85,000 on Friday morning as a trio of market-moving developments converged to shape the day's trading. Spot prices opened at $84,378 before climbing to $85,199 by early morning in New York, keeping traders focused on whether the asset can sustain levels not seen since January 2026.

The day's most striking on-chain signal came from Binance, where more than 13,800 Bitcoin left the exchange in a single session, the largest daily withdrawal the platform has recorded since 2023. Over a four-day span, Binance's total reserves fell from 705,000 BTC to 685,000 BTC. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost attributed the surge to renewed fear of missing out among retail and institutional buyers alike. A sustained drop in exchange-held supply can tighten the pool of coins immediately available for sale, though analysts note outflows do not guarantee those coins are permanently off the market.

ETF Flows and a Historic Options Expiry Add to the Pressure

Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $190.65 million in net inflows on September 24, a softer reading compared with the $998.95 million that poured in on September 21, the largest single-day figure since October 2025. Despite the daily pullback, Bitcoin ETFs have now fully erased all 2026 outflows with a $4.6 billion rebound, signaling that institutional appetite remains intact even as day-to-day flows fluctuate. BlackRock and Fidelity continued to lead buying among the major issuers.

Friday also marked Bitcoin's September 25 quarterly options expiry, a closely watched event that placed billions of dollars in open interest against a more nuanced question of which contracts actually settled in the money. The put-to-call ratio heading into expiry sat at 0.68, reflecting broadly bullish positioning among derivatives traders. Glassnode analyst Frederik Theissen noted that Bitcoin's recovery has been driven by spot demand rather than leverage, and that the asset never closed a single day below its realized price during the 2026 drawdown, a sign the broader market remained in aggregate profit throughout the pullback. If price holds above key support levels, the June low could prove to be the shallowest bear-market bottom since 2017.