Bitcoin ETFs Lose Nearly US$1 Billion in Two Weeks as Inflation Fears Persist

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have traded since January 2024, and BlackRock's IBIT has dominated the category almost from day one. The last comparable single-day inflow came on September 22, when the funds pulled in $714.75 million. October had been thin by contrast, with a $617.17 million cumulative deficit built up before Monday. One session on October 19 cut that gap to $90.57 million, a reminder of how concentrated and lumpy these flows have become.

BlackRock's IBIT alone supplied the entire $526.6 million Monday inflow, in fact bringing in $665.2 million gross, while Fidelity's FBTC and Grayscale's GBTC shed $83.6 million and $54.9 million. Allocators rotating into IBIT are not necessarily adding new capital to the category; some are switching issuers. Fidelity and Grayscale face redemption pressure that forces their market makers to sell BTC, even as headline 'inflow' numbers suggest broad demand.

Two weeks of data show $907.4 million in net outflows even as weekly withdrawals slowed from $679 million to $228.4 million, with Ethereum and Solana funds bleeding in parallel. One issuer absorbing nearly all of a 'biggest day in a month' headline is not the same as broad institutional conviction returning. A market whose flow swings hinge on a single product's allocation decisions carries a concentration risk that the ETF structure was meant to diversify away.

The next test came fast: on October 22, spot Bitcoin ETFs shed $635 million, with IBIT again leading the move, this time in the opposite direction. Watch whether October closes with a net positive or negative cumulative figure, and whether single-day inflow spikes keep reversing within days. A pattern of IBIT-driven swings in both directions would confirm that one issuer, not aggregate demand, is setting the category's weekly tone.