Bitcoin ETFs eke out positive week with $433 million Friday inflow as ether funds snap four-week inflow streak

A large inflow on the final trading day of last week was enough to spare U.S. spot bitcoin (BTC) ETFs a second straight negative week. Ether (ETH) funds weren't as fortunate, however, snapping a four-week inflow streak. 

Investors added $433 million to the publicly traded bitcoin products on Friday, leaving an overall $6.2 million net inflow for the week ending Sept. 18, according to The Block's analysis of SoSoValue data. The net inflow amount is modest, but large in comparison to the $462.7 million in outflows the funds had logged the week before.

Spot ether ETFs, meanwhile, posted a $140 million weekly outflow despite taking in $143.8 million on Friday. The result ended a streak of four positive net inflow weeks during which the funds collected a combined $1.94 billion.

Fidelity's FBTC drives Friday's recovery

Bitcoin ETFs managed to make up a large deficit caused by outflows on Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday's $160 million inflow was followed by withdrawals of $450.3 million on Tuesday and $296 million on Wednesday. Even after $159.5 million came in on Thursday, the funds were down $426.8 million for the week.

Friday's buying covered that shortfall with little to spare. The $433.0 million in inflows was the funds' largest daily inflow since Sept. 3, when they drew $730.9 million.

Fidelity's FBTC, the second-largest such fund by both assets under management (AUM) and trading volume per The Block's data, accounted for $310.7 million of Friday's total, with BlackRock's IBIT adding $108.4 million. Bitwise, VanEck, and Ark and 21Shares' funds brought in relatively smaller amounts.

Over the full week, however, IBIT took in $120.7 million, ahead of FBTC's $79.9 million. The other bitcoin funds together lost approximately $194.4 million, leaving the category barely above zero with just $6.2 million in net inflows.

Bitcoin ETFs are still down about $1.45 billion in net flows this year. Their cumulative inflows since launch stand at $55.16 billion, while net assets totaled $102.53 billion on Friday.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted the resilience of bitcoin ETF investors in a Thursday post on X, remarking that cumulative inflows remained around $55 billion after peaking near $63 billion. He described their staying power as “incredible intestinal fortitude from the Boomers given they saw a 50% drawdown,” while noting that rising stock prices may have helped investors hold on.

Ether funds snap four-week inflow streak

For ether ETFs, three consecutive negative sessions from Tuesday through Thursday, which drained $404.8 million, led to the products' four-week inflow streak ending last week.

Inflows to the funds on Monday and Friday weren't enough to recover those losses. BlackRock's ETHA drew $114.3 million on Friday but ended the week with $56.1 million in outflows. Fidelity's FETH also finished lower for the week, losing $25.8 million despite a $26.2 million addition on Friday, per The Block's analysis of SoSoValue data.

The weekly outflow was ether ETFs' first since the week ending Aug. 14. The funds remain positive for the year, though, with approximately $922 million in net inflows. They held $16.72 billion in net assets as of Friday, against $13.25 billion in cumulative inflows since launch.

Trading volume picked up across both categories. Bitcoin ETF volume reached $16.17 billion, up from $8.77 billion the week before, while ether ETF volume rose to $6.82 billion from $5.14 billion. Last week also had an extra trading day: the previous week's session count was cut to four by Labor Day.