Bitcoin ETFs Lose $643 Million Friday, Wiping Out the Week's Gains

Investors pulled $643.2 million out of U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs on Friday, Farside Investors data shows. That one day erased the week's gains and left the funds $202.4 million in the red for Oct. 26-30.

Spot ether ETFs lost another $155.7 million, their fifth straight day of withdrawals. Ether funds shed $431.4 million over the week.

Four funds did most of the selling

• BlackRock's IBIT: $233.7 million out
• Fidelity's FBTC: $201.0 million out
• ARK's ARKB: $129.5 million out
• Grayscale's GBTC: $53.3 million out

Bitwise's BITB lost $25.7 million. No bitcoin fund took in new money on the day.

How the flows work: an ETF share is backed by coins the fund holds. When big brokers called authorized participants hand shares back for redemption, the fund gives up bitcoin or cash and its holdings shrink. A net outflow means more shares were redeemed than created that day. The money also carries a cost. IBIT charges 0.25% a year, while GBTC still charges 1.50%, Farside's fee table shows.

A big week, then a reversal

The bitcoin funds had taken in $440.8 million from Monday through Thursday. Even after Friday, they hold a net $57.0 billion in lifetime inflows since their January 2024 launch, by Farside's count.

Friday's outflows came as investigators chased more than $6 billion stolen from Binance this week, CNBC reported. Farside's figures show where money moved, not why, and no fund issuer has given a reason for the withdrawals.

Bitcoin was near $77,100 at 11:56 p.m. ET Friday, down 1.1% in 24 hours and 4.3% over seven days, per CoinGecko. Ether was near $2,238, up 0.2% on the day.

In our opinion: the number that stands out is the ether side, five down days in a row and $431.4 million gone, while bitcoin funds were still adding money until Friday. Monday's flow print is the first test of whether Friday was a one-day reaction or the start of a run. Lifetime inflows of $57.0 billion give the funds a lot of room before that total looks different.

Source: Farside Investors. Prices powered by CoinGecko.