The Nasdaq-listed spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) registered inflows totaling $15.4 million on Monday, ending a five-day run of outflows, according to provisional data published by investment firm Farside.
Fidelity’s FBTC led the inflows, collecting $261.8 million, followed by BlackRock’s IBIT, which amassed $35.5 million. Other funds like BITB, BTCO, EZBC, and BRRR received between $11 million and $20 million each. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s ETF (GBTC) continued to bleed money, losing just over $350 million.
Last week, the ETFs saw a cumulative outflow of $887.6 million, thanks to large withdrawals from GBTC.
Nearly a dozen spot ETFs debuted in the U.S. on Jan. 11, allowing investors to take exposure to the leading cryptocurrency while bypassing the hassles of owning and storing the digital asset. These ETFs invest directly in bitcoin and eliminate the need to rollover positions, a key feature of futures-based ETFs that went live in October 2021.
Since the spot ETFs began trading, bitcoin has risen over 50% to $70,750. On Monday, prices rose just over 4%, briefly topping the $71,000 mark.
Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, said quarter-end flows could be stronger than usual, lifting the cryptocurrency’s price to new highs.
“Bitcoin ETF flows turned around magically on Monday as Fidelity suddenly found $262m of buyers, compared to $18m, $3m, and $13m during the previous three sessions. Flows on Tuesday (30%) tend to cannibalize flows from Thursday (16%) and Friday (12%), while Monday and Wednesday (each 21%) see their fair ‘20%’ share per weekday,” Thielen said Tuesday’s edition of the newsletter.
“With bitcoin above $70,000, we can imagine that flows on Tuesday could also be positive again. With the quarter end, flows might be stronger than usual,” Thielen added.
Thielen stressed that spot ETF inflows and issuance of dollar-pegged stablecoin tether (USDT) need to pick up for bitcoin to chart another aggressive move higher, or else the burden of the rally would fall on futures traders’ shoulders. Tether, the world’s largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, is widely used as a funding currency in the crypto spot and derivatives markets.
