Bitcoin and Ether ETFs Shed $1.65 Billion in a Week as BlackRock Leads Outflows

U.S. spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds recorded combined net outflows of about $1.65 billion for the week of November 2 to 6, according to Farside Investors data reported by crypto.news on Saturday. Bitcoin funds lost $1.28 billion and ether funds lost $365.2 million. The prior week, October 26 to 30, saw combined outflows of $633.8 million.

Bitcoin traded near $76,070 on Saturday morning, up 0.3% on the day and down 2.9% on the week from an opening price of $78,354, according to Finwire. Ether traded near $2,240 to $2,250, based on a price ticker shown on the crypto.news report.

Fund flows measure the net cash entering or leaving ETF products; they do not by themselves identify the investors behind a trade or establish why an investor sold. The weekly sector total also masks differences between funds. Flow data are reported after trading sessions and should not be confused with intraday price movements or total ETF trading volume; a sale of ETF shares between investors need not produce a net redemption. A large redemption in one ETF can outweigh smaller inflows elsewhere, as the contrast between BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC illustrates.

A weekly outflow is not the same as a permanent loss of assets: fund asset values change with market prices as well as subscriptions and redemptions. For that reason, the direction of next week's flows and the distribution across individual providers will give a clearer indication of whether the withdrawals were concentrated or broad-based.

Bitcoin funds: BlackRock drives the total

BlackRock's IBIT lost $1.21 billion for the week, which is almost the entire bitcoin ETF outflow. Its largest single-day withdrawal was $405.3 million on Monday. Fund-level weekly flows were:

• IBIT (BlackRock): minus $1.21 billion
• FBTC (Fidelity): plus $93.1 million, with a $236.7 million inflow on Wednesday and a $199.9 million outflow on Thursday
• BITB (Bitwise): plus $16.6 million
• ARKB (Ark and 21Shares): minus $19.1 million
• GBTC (Grayscale): minus $61 million
• Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust: minus $52.6 million

Wednesday's $74.6 million inflow was the only positive day for bitcoin funds. Thursday's outflow was $430.2 million and Friday's was $411.9 million, of which IBIT accounted for $403 million, while Fidelity's FBTC took in $42.8 million.

Ether funds: outflows on four of five days

Ether ETFs lost $365.2 million for the week. Daily flows were minus $139.7 million on Monday, minus $85.3 million on Tuesday, plus $53 million on Wednesday, minus $99.9 million on Thursday and minus $93.3 million on Friday.

BlackRock's ETHA lost $345.9 million, and its ETHB lost $47.9 million. Fidelity's FETH gained $15.3 million. On Friday, ETHA lost $90.8 million, and the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust lost $1.9 million.

The prior week's ether outflow was $431.4 million, so ether funds have now lost about $800 million over two weeks. Even so, cumulative net inflows since launch remain large, at about $55.77 billion for bitcoin funds and $11.95 billion for ether funds through November 6, according to Farside.

Price and sentiment

Bitcoin has held a narrow range of $75,790 to $76,250 on Saturday, Finwire reported, after a weekly high near $81,200 following the U.S. midterm elections and a weekly low near $74,900. Friday's close was about $75,731, according to CryptoTicker.

Levels traders are watching

Why the outflows matter

ETF flows are one of the clearest ways to see U.S. investor demand for bitcoin. Persistent outflows suggest that buyers are not absorbing the selling from other sources. CryptoQuant data reported by crypto.news show 30-day net spot volume on Binance and Coinbase turning negative, at minus $28 million and minus $9.4 million respectively, after being positive at about $64 million each at the end of August.

The outflows coincided with a technology stock selloff. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% on Thursday, according to Fox Business, and rose 1.09% on Friday, according to a Saturday market brief. A strong jobs report on Friday also raised the odds of a December Fed rate hike to about 78% to 80%, which is covered in our weekly market wrap. Higher expected rates and a stronger dollar have generally been headwinds for bitcoin, though the link is not mechanical.

Limits of the data

Reported figures come from secondary reports of Farside Investors, CoinGlass and CryptoQuant data, and exchange prices differ by a few hundred dollars. The crypto.news report contained a small discrepancy in its combined Friday total, $504.2 million in the summary against $505.2 million from the sum of its own bitcoin and ether figures, so this article uses the fund-level numbers. Crypto trades around the clock, and the price levels above will change.

The next data point is Monday's ETF flow report. A turn to positive flows would be the first sign that the selling is easing, and another large outflow would extend the pattern of the past week.