Ether falls 16% in October as ETF outflows hit record $1.61 billion

What happened

Ether lost 16.06% of its value in October and finished the month near $2,250, according to CryptoPotato. The month opened with a modest advance that carried the second-largest cryptocurrency toward resistance at $2,800, but sellers held that level and the token gave ground quickly.

Within a week ETH had dropped to $2,400, and a bounce days later stalled at $2,560. Another leg lower took the price to $2,300 on October 15, the same day September consumer and producer inflation figures were published. Bulls managed one more push to $2,520 on October 21, but that attempt faded and a sharper sell-off followed, culminating on October 30, after a large hack at Binance, in a two-month low of $2,150. A partial recovery left ETH at about $2,250 as the month closed.

Flows into US spot ether exchange-traded funds added to the pressure. SoSoValue data cited by the outlet show $1.61 billion in net withdrawals during October, the biggest monthly outflow since the funds launched and above the previous record of $1.42 billion. Only three sessions finished in the green, and all were modest: $24.84 million of net inflows on October 13, $14.96 million on October 21 and $4.35 million on October 23.

Why it matters

The size of the October drawdown matters because it landed directly after three consecutive months of gains, when ether had been rebuilding from its early July low. For a market that has come to depend on ETF demand as a source of fresh buying, a record month of redemptions removes one of the supports behind the summer rally. Cumulative net inflows into the ether funds fell from $13.89 billion at the end of September to $12.29 billion a month later, a swing of roughly $1.6 billion. That move illustrates how quickly flow-driven demand can reverse once price momentum breaks, and it puts ETF positioning alongside inflation data and exchange security as one of the factors shaping ether's price in the final quarter.

What the data shows

Ether's monthly return was -16.06%, with the asset closing October around $2,250 after touching $2,150 on October 30. Spot ether ETFs saw $1.61 billion in net outflows for the month, compared with the prior record of $1.42 billion, while cumulative net inflows dropped from $13.89 billion to $12.29 billion over the same period. The three positive flow days totaled $44.15 million combined.

The preceding rally was substantial: ETH rose 18.52% in July after bottoming at $1,500, added 32.60% in August and gained 8.79% in September. October's loss still ranked outside the three deepest monthly declines of the year, behind June at -21.69%, February at -19.63% and January at -17.59%.

Background

Ether entered October having recovered sharply from a July low of $1,500. The rebound began in that month and accelerated in mid-August with a breakout rally, then extended through September. The October reversal therefore erased only part of the earlier advance rather than undoing it entirely. CryptoPotato notes that November has historically been an unusually active month for ether, with every edition apart from 2015 and 2021 producing double-digit moves. The extremes were a 59% gain in 2020 and a 43% drop in 2018.

What to watch

Attention now turns to whether the ETF outflow trend persists into November or reverses, since the record redemptions were the single largest flow driver identified in the October decline. Traders will also be watching whether ether can reclaim the $2,400 to $2,560 band that rejected successive rebound attempts last month, or whether the $2,150 low is tested again. The historical November volatility cited in the reporting cuts both ways, and the reports offer no forecast for the current month.

Questions readers ask