The $635.6 million outflow from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday, Oct. 22, was the largest daily outflow since June, erasing more than half of the net inflows recorded during the first three days of the week.
According to data compiled by The Block, funds that had attracted inflows for three consecutive trading days reversed course. They recorded inflows of $526.7 million on Monday, $23.2 million on Tuesday, and $528.4 million on Wednesday. As a result, the single-day outflow wiped out 59% of the approximately $1.08 billion in net inflows accumulated during the first three days.
Even so, as of Thursday’s close, the weekly balance had not turned entirely negative: Bitcoin ETFs still had $442.7 million in net inflows.
BlackRock and Fidelity Lead Bitcoin ETF Outflows
The largest outflow, $254.1 million, came from BlackRock’s IBIT fund. Fidelity’s FBTC fund saw $217.5 million leave, while Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB fund saw outflows of $109.4 million. These three funds accounted for most of the day’s total outflows.
Bitwise’s BITB and Grayscale’s GBTC funds also ended the day with net outflows. Moving in the opposite direction, Morgan Stanley’s MSBT fund saw $2.3 million in inflows; the remaining funds recorded no net flows. Since beginning trading in April, MSBT has ended just one day with net outflows.
Why Is the $80,000 Bitcoin Zone Important?
Before Thursday’s outflows were announced, Tesseract Group senior DeFi analyst Lorris Beziers had viewed continued ETF inflows amid market weakness as a positive sign of resilient demand. The question he was watching was whether money would continue flowing into the funds while Bitcoin held in the $80,000–$81,000 range. According to Beziers, weakening inflows combined with a break below this price floor would signal a deterioration in the demand outlook.
Data for the morning of Friday, Oct. 23, showed Bitcoin down 3.4% over the previous 24 hours to around $81,500. Sell-offs in technology stocks added to the pressure, with the Nasdaq closing the previous day down 2.6% and the S&P 500 down 1.2%. According to CoinGlass data, at least $440 million in leveraged positions were liquidated in the crypto market over the same 24-hour period, including $397 million in long positions.
Ethereum Funds Also Reverse Course
Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $110.6 million in net outflows on Thursday, following $14.9 million in inflows on Wednesday. Solana and Hyperliquid funds also saw outflows, while XRP funds stood apart with $3.6 million in inflows.
Despite the latest daily outflow, cumulative net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs since January 2024 remain above $57 billion, while assets under management are worth more than $100 billion.
Not investment advice.