U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs Pull In $526.7 Million, Best Day Since Late September

By Daniel Okafor

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $526.7 million in net inflows on Oct. 19, their strongest single day since Sept. 22, when the funds took in $714.7 million. The figure comes from Decrypt's ETF tracker and marks a sharp reversal after two weeks of sustained selling.

The rebound interrupted a stretch in which the ten U.S. funds shed roughly $910 million combined. That slide included a $484.9 million exit on Oct. 7 — the worst session since June — and closed out last week with another $82.4 million in net outflows on Friday.

Who did the buying?

One fund did all of it. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) pulled in $665.2 million, more than the day's entire net total, per Farside Investors. The rest of the complex offset that demand:

• Fidelity's FBTC lost $83.6 million
• Grayscale's GBTC lost $54.9 million
• Every other fund in the suite recorded zero net flows

October's ledger now reads about $88 million in net outflows, trimmed sharply from roughly $615 million before Monday's session.

What happened to Ethereum and Solana funds?

The other crypto ETFs moved the other way. Spot Ethereum ETFs lost $103 million on Monday, their fourth consecutive day of outflows, according to SoSoValue. Solana ETFs shed $6.7 million, per Decrypt's SOL ETF tracker.

BlackRock sat on both sides of that split. Its Ethereum fund, ETHA, accounted for $95.4 million of the Ethereum outflow — the same day IBIT booked its $665.2 million haul. Netted together, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana funds still drew roughly $417 million.

Why yields matter here

Bitcoin traded near $82,000 on Monday, close to the $82,300 average cost basis that Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev estimated for ETF holders last week. A price at that level means the typical fund investor is roughly at breakeven — a level where flows tend to swing either way.

The macro backdrop is the harder constraint. The 10-year Treasury yield held above 5% on Monday, per Treasury data, and the 30-year touched roughly 5.7% on Oct. 7 — the same day as the $484.9 million ETF exit. The September CPI report landed the same day $261.4 million left the funds on Oct. 14.

The chain of pressure is straightforward. Weekend attacks on Persian Gulf tankers pushed Brent crude to between $108 and $110 a barrel. That feeds through to consumer prices: CPI rose 3.7% in the 12 months through September, with the energy index up 20.4%. Persistent inflation keeps the Federal Reserve leaning toward another quarter-point increase after it lifted its target range in September. Higher expected rates push Treasury yields up, and a Treasury returning more than 5% with far less price risk competes directly for money that might otherwise sit in a yield-free asset like Bitcoin.

What comes next

Nine trading sessions remain in October, and the funds still need to claw back about $88 million to break even for the month. The Federal Reserve's next meeting lands on Oct. 27-28 — and its rate decision will set the Treasury-yield backdrop that has driven ETF flows for the past two weeks.