Three days of buying in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took one session to unwind. The funds shed $635.6 million on Thursday, according to Decrypt, wiping out close to 60% of the roughly $1.07 billion they had pulled in over the prior three days and flipping October’s running total from a monthly gain back into a loss.

The reversal wasn’t limited to Bitcoin. Ethereum ETFs lost $110.6 million and Solana ETFs shed $8.9 million the same day, according to Cointelegraph and CryptoWatchDesk, while the sell orders landed on a day the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6% and oil climbed above $111 a barrel.

Key Takeaways

  • U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $635.6 million on Thursday, erasing nearly 60% of a $1.07 billion, three-day inflow streak and pushing October’s net flows to roughly negative $176 million.
  • BlackRock’s IBIT led the outflows at $254.1 million, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $217.5 million and ARK/21Shares’ ARKB at $109.4 million; Morgan Stanley’s MSBT was the only Bitcoin fund to add money, taking in $2.3 million.
  • Ethereum ETFs lost $110.6 million, bringing October’s Ether ETF outflows to about $1.18 billion, while Solana ETFs shed $8.9 million and XRP ETFs bucked the trend with $3.6 million in inflows.
  • Bitcoin ETFs’ weekly flows stayed positive, at roughly $440 million, and the funds still hold $57.8 billion in cumulative net inflows since their January 2024 launch.
  • Bitcoin traded near $81,460 to $81,783 on Friday depending on the source, with prices moving far less than the ETF flows that preceded them.

The Monthly Tally Flips Negative

Thursday’s outflow was the largest of the month for Bitcoin ETFs. Decrypt reported it topped the previous high of $484.9 million set on Oct. 7, while Cointelegraph and CryptoWatchDesk, citing Farside and SoSoValue data respectively, called it the biggest single-day outflow since a $696 million exit on June 25.

The damage pushed October’s net flows from roughly $460 million in gains on Wednesday to a loss of about $176 million, per Decrypt and CryptoWatchDesk; Cointelegraph put the figure at $175 million. The week, however, stayed in positive territory, with trackers citing figures between $439.1 million and $443 million thanks to inflows earlier in the week. Cumulative net inflows since the funds launched in January 2024 stand at $57.8 billion, with total net assets at $100.2 billion, according to Decrypt and The Block.

Which Funds Moved the Money

BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for the largest single withdrawal, $254.1 million, its biggest outflow since June 29, according to CryptoWatchDesk and The Block. Fidelity’s FBTC followed with $217.5 million, its largest since July 13, and ARK/21Shares’ ARKB lost $109.4 million. Grayscale’s GBTC shed $29.5 million and Bitwise’s BITB lost $27.4 million. Morgan Stanley’s MSBT, which launched in April, was the only Bitcoin fund to take in money on the day, adding $2.3 million; it has now logged just one outflow day since debuting.

Ether funds lost $110.6 million, with BlackRock’s ETHA responsible for $75.5 million of that while Fidelity’s FETH added $2.4 million, per CryptoWatchDesk. That brings Ether ETFs’ October outflows to roughly $1.18 billion. Solana ETFs lost $8.9 million, split between Bitwise’s BSOL and Grayscale’s GSOL, bringing the month’s Solana outflows to about $68 million. XRP ETFs were the exception, pulling in $3.6 million, according to Cointelegraph and The Block, which also noted outflows from Hyperliquid-linked funds of roughly $8 million.

Prices Hold Steadier Than the Flows

Despite the size of the outflows, spot prices moved comparatively little. Decrypt put Bitcoin near $81,460 on Friday, flat over 24 hours and down 0.4% on the week, with 30-day losses of 4.8%. Cointelegraph had Bitcoin trading around $81,783 at publication, down about 1% over 24 hours, while The Block described a 3.4% drop over the prior day as a broader tech-stock sell-off spread to Asian markets. Thursday’s intraday range ran between $80,996 and $82,551, per Cointelegraph, down from Wednesday’s high of $84,777.

Ethereum slipped 0.2% to about $2,400, down 11.4% over 30 days, and Solana fell 0.3% to roughly $104, down 10.4% over the same stretch, according to Decrypt. Total crypto market capitalization held near $2.85 trillion, while trading volume dropped 20% to $67.1 billion. The selling coincided with oil prices above $111 a barrel and an AI-stock slide that dragged the S&P 500 lower, Decrypt reported.

Analysts Watch the $80,000 Floor

Lorris Beziers, senior DeFi analyst at Tesseract Group, told The Block before Thursday’s reversal that continued ETF inflows while Bitcoin held the $80,000 to $81,000 range would signal sustained demand. “If inflows fade and that floor breaks, the demand picture has weakened,” Beziers said.

Traders on Myriad, a prediction market built by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, trimmed their bets on an October breakout following the outflow data. They now give Bitcoin a 17% chance of topping $87,500 before month’s end, down from 20% the day before, and a 9% chance of reaching $90,000. Odds of a slide to $77,500 stood at 32%. In Myriad’s longer-dated markets, users gave Ethereum a 61.3% chance of hitting $3,000 before $1,500, and Solana a 54.9% chance of reaching $160 before $40.

What to Watch

The Federal Reserve meets Oct. 27-28, with traders anticipating a rate hold, a scenario generally seen as favorable for risk assets. Whether Bitcoin ETFs can resume inflows while the token holds the $80,000 to $81,000 range remains the key test analysts flagged, alongside how October’s net flow figure settles by month’s end.

Sources