Crypto ETFs lose $593M in a week as bitcoin and ether selling persists

What happened

US-listed crypto exchange-traded funds remained under pressure in the week through Oct. 16, with roughly $593 million leaving the five major categories tracked by Bitcoin.com News. That was about 52% less than the $1.2 billion withdrawn a week earlier, but no category escaped the week in positive territory.

Bitcoin funds lost about $228.6 million, following a $681 million withdrawal in the prior period. Flows swung sharply day to day: $65.40 million left on Monday, $175.62 million returned on Tuesday, $261.46 million exited on Wednesday, a marginal $5.06 million came in on Thursday and $82.39 million left on Friday. BlackRock's IBIT accounted for $165.4 million of the weekly redemptions and Fidelity's FBTC lost $60.2 million, while Morgan Stanley's MSBT drew $6.7 million.

Ether products fared worse, shedding about $320 million for a third consecutive negative week. A $24.84 million inflow on Tuesday ended a 10-day losing run, but the reprieve lasted a single session, with $129.51 million leaving on Wednesday, $60.22 million on Thursday and $69.68 million on Friday. Solana funds lost $25.52 million, slightly more than the previous week's record $24.81 million, stretching their run of net outflows to 10 trading days.

Why it matters

Measured against the size of each category, the two largest funds tell very different stories. Bitcoin ETF assets ended the week at $104.29 billion, so the outflows amounted to only about 0.22% of that base. Ether ETFs closed with $14.95 billion in assets after their withdrawals, equal to roughly 2.14% of assets under management, close to ten times the redemption pressure bitcoin experienced relative to fund size.

Trading activity cooled at the same time. Bitcoin ETF turnover slipped to about $10.11 billion from $11.44 billion, while ether volume dropped roughly 34% to $3.44 billion. Taken together, the thinner trading and persistent redemptions suggest institutional appetite for crypto exposure stayed restrained and selective rather than collapsing outright.

What the data shows

Among the smaller categories, XRP funds lost a modest $1.84 million and HYPE products recorded $17.57 million in weekly redemptions. Zcash funds shed $19.15 million as enthusiasm that followed their launch continued to fade. The exception was NEAR: Bitwise's NRR attracted $11.65 million, with inflows on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Solana products ended the week with $1.62 billion in assets, making the redemptions equal to about 1.58% of AUM, and two-week withdrawals reached approximately $50.33 million. SOL itself declined about 4.6% over the week. Farside Investors data cited by Crypto.news put the Oct. 12, 16 losses at $228.4 million for bitcoin funds and $320.1 million for ether funds, with BlackRock's ETHA responsible for $299 million of the ether total.

Background

The retreat followed a heavier stretch earlier in October, when bitcoin funds lost $678.9 million and ether products shed $542.2 million during Oct. 5, 9, a week in which ether funds finished every session negative and ETHA alone accounted for $477.1 million in withdrawals. For Solana, the shift has been stark: the category had previously recorded 14 straight weeks of institutional inflows before the current run of redemptions.

Macro conditions help explain the defensive positioning. September CPI accelerated to 3.7% annually while producer prices rose 6.3%, and higher energy costs added to inflation pressure and reinforced the case for restrictive Federal Reserve policy, a backdrop that has weighed on bitcoin and other risk assets. Flow tracking has also been complicated by methodology differences: Crypto.news noted that Lookonchain and Farside Investors published divergent daily totals in late October, including opposite directions for ether funds on the same snapshot.

What to watch

The immediate question is whether the slower pace of withdrawals marks a durable stabilization or a pause before another round of inflation-driven rate repricing. Early indications were mixed. Cointelegraph reported that bitcoin ETFs drew about $301 million in net inflows in the following week, ending a two-week outflow streak, even as roughly $774 million left on Thursday and Friday as bitcoin retreated toward $80,000. Ether funds, by contrast, recorded a fourth consecutive week of outflows at about $221 million.

Research from market maker DWF Labs, cited by Cointelegraph, found net outflows during seven of eight bitcoin sell-offs of at least 15% since the funds launched in January 2024. "ETF investors aren't the dip buyers people think they are," the firm said, a pattern worth testing against flows in the weeks ahead.

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