Frenzied demand for cryptocurrency ETFs has quickly waned.
After Bitcoin funds had their best week since April, investors reduced their positions for most of the next five trading sessions. The selling was widespread, sustained, and concentrated on some of the market's largest products.
By Friday's close, Bitcoin ETFs had experienced four down sessions out of five.
Bitcoin Gives Back Some of Its August Gains
The week began with a $144.67 million outflow from Bitcoin ETFs, ending a five-day streak of inflows carried over from the previous week.
Tuesday brought only brief relief. Following a net inflow of $4.89 million, driven by a $50.20 million infusion into BlackRock's IBIT, outflows of $61.16 million on Wednesday and $131.13 million on Thursday ensued. Another $57.63 million left the funds on Friday.
Weekly losses reached $389.7 million.
The largest outflow — $153.2 million — came from Fidelity's FBTC fund. Grayscale's GBTC fund lost $88.3 million, and BlackRock's IBIT fund recorded a net outflow of $78.9 million. ARK 21Shares' ARKB fund lost $70.3 million, and Bitwise's BITB lost $31.6 million. Franklin Templeton's EZBC fund saw an outflow of $23.9 million.
Hashdex's DEFI fund also lost $4.3 million as investors continued to exit ahead of its planned liquidation. Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust was one of the few winners, adding $75.98 million. Morgan Stanley's MSBT fund attracted $7.08 million.
Ether Price Holds Mostly Steady While Altcoins Find Buyers
Ether ETFs ended the week with a net outflow of approximately $2.26 million.
Monday saw an outflow of $14.59 million, followed by another outflow of $1.76 million on Tuesday. Demand improved later in the week: inflows of $7.38 million came on Wednesday and $6.72 million on Thursday. No net flows were observed on Friday.
Smaller cryptocurrency ETFs showed more resilient results.
Solana funds led the altcoin group with a weekly inflow of $10.26 million. Most of this came on Monday ($8.83 million), followed by a $1.43 million inflow on Tuesday.
$HYPE ETF products attracted $2.74 million, with all of it arriving on Monday. $XRP-based products attracted $2.25 million, with the entire weekly gain occurring on Thursday.
The macroeconomic landscape gave investors much to ponder. The headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.4% year-over-year in July, while core inflation increased by 2.5%; both figures matched expectations. The monthly core CPI rose 0.2%. Labor market data softened somewhat: initial jobless claims rose to 209,000, exceeding forecasts of 202,000. Producer prices also eased: the Producer Price Index (PPI) in July rose 4.7% year-over-year, below the forecast of 4.9% and down from the previous 5.5%.
These metrics supported interest rate expectations throughout the week. Bitcoin ETFs, often one of the most liquid institutional tools for managing cryptocurrency risk, bore the brunt of the selling pressure.
Weekly reports still showed demand in other market segments. Solana, $XRP, and $HYPE funds closed in the green, indicating investors continued to make selective bets on cryptocurrencies even as capital flows into Bitcoin sharply turned defensive.
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