U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $66.19 million in net inflows on Tuesday, their ninth consecutive session of positive flows, according to Decrypt's Bitcoin ETF tracker. The run, which began on Sept. 17, has now absorbed roughly $3.08 billion in aggregate.

That total narrowly exceeds the previous nine-day streak, which ran from Aug. 17 to Aug. 27 and drew about $3.04 billion. The two sequences tie on length. The current one wins on dollars, by roughly $33 million — a thin margin, but a meaningful one given that the August rally is widely credited with pulling Bitcoin out of its bear market.

Bitcoin traded near $84,400 on Wednesday, up about 1% on the day and recovering Monday's losses. The price remains below its September high near $87,350 and about a third below its October 2025 record of $126,296.

Momentum is cooling even as the streak extends. Daily inflows have decelerated sharply, from a peak of $999 million on Sept. 21 to $66 million on Tuesday. The week ending Sept. 25 drew $2.4 billion — the largest weekly haul since October 2025 — which pushed the funds back into positive territory for 2026. The question for allocators is whether the current pace can sustain the rally or whether the streak reflects residual demand rather than fresh institutional commitment.

The reversal followed a hawkish macro shock. On Sept. 16, the Federal Reserve raised rates by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75%–4%, its first hike since 2023. Traders had priced the move at nearly 93% odds beforehand. Rising rates typically pressure risk assets like Bitcoin as cheap liquidity becomes scarcer. Bitcoin slid to roughly $75,000 that week, and the ETFs bled about $746 million over two days. Flows flipped positive on Sept. 17 with $159.5 million, and Bitcoin reclaimed $80,000 within two days.

The summer rebound has its own policy anchor. Bitcoin's August recovery traces to Aug. 19, when the U.S. Treasury said it would double its longer-dated bond buybacks to at least $4 billion per operation. Bitcoin hit $69,000 that day for the first time in two months.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs, which launched in the U.S. two and a half years ago, let investors gain price exposure without holding BTC directly or transacting on a crypto exchange. They trade like equities on brokerage platforms, and market participants treat their daily flows as a core sentiment indicator for the broader digital asset market.

The historical benchmark still stands at 13 consecutive days of inflows, set in June 2025. Matching it would require positive flows through Monday, Oct. 5 — a test that will land amid a rate environment materially tighter than the one that fueled earlier rallies.